


Setting Fires, Sailing Stars

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Brothers, Dark Side Sith Inquisitor, Family, Family Secrets, Gen, Interplanetary Travel, Kyber Crystals, Long, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Pre-Star Wars: A New Hope, Project Harvester, Smuggling, The Force, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25615921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Naj Kenobi heard stories from his parents as he grew up of an elder brother who was given away to become a Jedi Knight. Naj had always dreamed of one day meeting his brother, but after the devastating end of the Clone Wars, they receive news of Obi-Wan’s death. The now thirteen-year-old Naj gives up on his hopes and puts all of his effort into his aging father’s business.But the Force has other ideas. Six years after his brother’s presumed death, he begins having strange dreams about a man living in the desert sands, a man who goes by the name Ben Kenobi. Convinced this man is connected to Obi-Wan, Naj boards a ship and sets out to find the mysterious Ben, hoping to discover the truth.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. Damned if I Don’t

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m not incredibly proud of this fic. It’s the first one I wrote in this fandom, and it shows. The plot is sort of contrived, the Mando’a is cringeworthy, and I find the main character annoying. That being said, some people have managed to enjoy it, so there’s got to be some merit. Good luck?

The nephew sitting in the arms of his sister is laughing. He’s very cute, fine blonde baby hair ruffling in the breeze, his chubby, tiny fingers reaching for the fluff drifting by on the breeze. The podberry bushes have just opened, releasing the green seeds to fly along the wind. His sister has made her twice-annual visit just a week too soon time for the berries to be ready. Or perhaps at just the right time.

Jorna is worried, her posture is rigid. His parents sit on the swing bench, saying nothing, tense looks on their faces. Naj stands at the railing, staring out over their backyard. It is large; their house is in the country, nearly two hours away from the nearest city. Maybe that’s just right, too, when he thinks about it. The city is cramped, crowded and noisy. Their small town is calm and their house airy. _Bushes like these could never grow in the city_ , he thinks, examining them. His sister sets the boy on the ground and he toddles over, pulling some fluff from a pod and showing it to Naj proudly.

“It won’t be safe for him on this planet, let alone the whole galaxy!” his father’s voice is a harsh whisper, full of warning. “I don’t think it matters if we keep him here or not.” Naj sits on the ground with the small boy, taking the fluff and putting it under his nose like a mustache. He claps and giggles, mirroring the movement with another handful of seeds. 

“There’s not much we can do now,” his mother adds, “if they have his blood, they’ll know. You can’t stop them, it’s a matter of when, not if.” Now he takes the fluff and splits it, placing a clump each above his eyebrows. The boy releases another peal of laughter, eyes wide with joy. 

“Well then what am I going to do?” Jorna crosses her arms across her chest. Naj makes the fluff into a beard.

“There’s not much you _can_ do. Pray, maybe. They don’t give anyone a choice. Your only other option is to take him and run. I do have friends on other planets. Maybe I can get you new papers, or-” His sister leaps to her feet, cutting him off.

“I don’t want new papers!” she shouts, “I want my son to be safe and happy! Is that too much to ask?” Naj can see the writing on the wall. He scoops up his nephew and looks at Jorna. She nods, and he takes him back inside and down the stairs. The arguement continues behind them. 

“There is no other way, I know-” Naj takes him through the kitchen door and out into the sunshine, setting him down on the soft green grass. He had been listening to the conversation, though he assumed none of them had thought he was. The strange thing was the way they danced around the root of the issue. _Why can’t they just say_ -

“Unk Naj! Unk Naj! Move rock! Look!” The small boy interrupts his chain of thought, drawing attention to a small pebble near one of the flowerbeds. It hovers three inches above the ground, wobbling slightly and lurching to the left. Naj looks around quickly, shooting a glance at the path going through the woods. No one is watching.

“Nathan, No!” he shouts. The small boy gives him a startled look. Naj takes a deep breath, then continues. “You know what your mother said about doing that outside, Nate. Put it down.” The little boy gives an offended ‘hmph’, but the rock drops to flowerbed once more. “Good. Come on, let’s go for a walk.” Nathan perks up instantly, his anger over the rock soon forgotten. He grabs Naj’s hand, and allows him to lead the way to the forest path. 

Gravel crunches under their feet as they go, the path kept neat by the township. The smooth, purple bark of the trees seems to shimmer in the afternoon sun, the bird calls echoing between them. Nathan is excited and full of life, soon dropping Naj’s hand and racing ahead, though staying in sight. _He’s so young. Why would anyone want to hurt him?_

Their travel take them through the woods and to the Larkstone. The small boy runs and leaps at the rocks pitted surface, moving with more speed and agility than Naj thinks he’s ever possessed in his entire life. He soon makes the top, standing ten feet above the ground. Naj circles the base warily, arms half-outstretched to catch him if he falls. Suddenly, his communicator beeps. It’s the one he wears for work, but the display reads ‘father’.

“Yeah?” he asks, pressing the button. There is silence on the other end, then:

“Come home, please. It’s time for dinner.” Naj bites his lip. There’s something off, but he can’t put his finger on it and so he just says goodbye, hangs up, and calls Nathan down from the rock. As they’re walking back it finally hits him. He said ’dinner’. They never called it ‘dinner’, it was always ‘supper’. So what was up? Was he still cowed by the argument they’d had on the porch? Had it got nastier after he’d left?

He only figures it out when they arrive back at the house. Nathan carries a purple stick he wants to show to his mother, and swings it around wildly. Naj smiles at him.

“What are you doing, Nate?” Nathan swats him on the leg with the stick, and Naj falls to one knee dramatically.

“Laze-Sword! Laze-Sword!” the young boy shouts, now hitting him in the back. Naj picks up a stick of his own and begin to fight back, preventing any more blows from landing. They fight for a minute or two, with Naj eventually letting up his guard and allowing Nathan to deafeat him. He crumples to the ground, splaying his arms out wide. His nephew leaps onto his legs, also pretending to die.

“Come on, Nate,” he says, dusting himself off and climbing to his feet, “let’s go get ready for supper.” He lifts the boy onto his shoulders and they walk towards the kitchen door. And that’s when he notices the speeder parked in the driveway. Painted on the hood is an insignia. _The_ insignia. 

“Move Naj! Move Naj! Wan Supper!” Nathan babbles, kicking his small heels into Naj’s chest. He stares dumbfounded at the house. It looks no different from any other day, but there’s something sinister about it now, a feeling of danger. From the inside, he hears a woman scream. _Mother? Jorna?_ He takes a step, back, then another. A sick feeling settles in the pit of his stomach. _They followed her here. The Inquisitors._

“Nathan, I need you to be quiet. Now.” The small boy falls immeadiately silent, stunned by Naj’s tone. Nobody speaks to him so sternly, and few people call him Nathan. Another scream echoes from inside the house, accompanied by a crash. Nathan’s hands tighten in his hair.

“Waas wrong, Unk Naj?” Naj swings the small boy down and into his arms. His mind and heart race. 

“We have to leave, Nate.” He begins to walk back into the forest, not bothering to follow the path this time. “It’s not safe here.” Nathan begins to kick, demanding to be let down.

“No, Unk! No! Wan Mama! Wan Mama!” the small boy begins to cry, “MAMA!” The wail is so loud, Nathan is sure that the Inquisitors can hear. He breaks into a run, dashing madly through the trees with a screaming child in his arms. The adrenaline seems to give him superhuman speed as he ducks between trees and leaps thick patches of brush. But he knows, and he does not know why he knows, that the Inquisitors are never far behind.

Naj bounds between two trees, then doubles back. His footsteps are not quiet, but Nathan is still sobbing, so trying to sneak away is a lost cause. Astonishingly, he breaks through the trees five minutes later to find himself staring at the balcony where he had sat playing with podberry seeds not an hour before. Lying on the ground about five feet away is a body. His father. 

“NO!” he shouts, racing towards him. At first he fears the worst, then realizes his father is alive. The older man groans and opens his eyes, and they flutter around wildly before landing on Naj. 

“Go! Flee! You- Nate-” he’s cut off by a strange, completely foriegn sound. Naj whips around just in time to see a tall, black robed figure ignite a lightsaber. He’s never seen a lightsaber in person, and coming face to face with the real thing is terrifying, especially after playing laser-swords with Nate and a pair of sticks. His eyes travel up to the face of the wielder, but he has none. A dark helmet that vaguely suggests facial features covers his entire head. Naj doesn’t think there’s any exposed skin at all on the dark robed figure.

“Give me the child, boy.” His voice is heavily modulated, his every breath audible. He takes a step forward, stops for a beat, then continues onwards. Nate’s sobs grow louder.

“He kill Granpa! He kill Granpa!” Naj holds him closer, and the small boy buries his head in his shoulder. He backs away from the advancing intruder. There is a disturbance on the balcony above. A woman lands in a neat crouch a few feet away. She ignites her saber, joining the masked man in his advance. Her skin is red, her hair brown. She has a smug smile on her face.

“Everything is going to be okay, Nate.” He takes a deep breath, scanning the area for an escape route. “Dad’s fine, he’s just hurt.” The red woman laughs. Her eyes glimmer.

“‘Everything is going to be alright’,” She mimics, “For the child, maybe. Give him to us!” His back meets the wall of the kitchen, his escape routes cut off by the Inquisitors. _Think, think, think! You have to get Nate out of here!_

“And if I don’t?” he says, stalling. “Why should I let you take him away and twist him into a- a- _Sith_ like you?” A flicker of anger flashes over the woman’s face. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” She snarls, “Give us the child and we may yet spare your life!” A plan, half formed and reckless, springs into his mind. He sucks in a huge breath of air and lets out a loud bellow. The woman flinches, and during the split second of distraction he dives through the open kitchen window.

Knowing there are only seconds before they follow him, he races through kitchen, into the hall, and out through the wide open front door. From up the stairs he hears sobbing. Naj thinks it’s his sister, and wants to tell her it will all be alright, but he cannot stop. His lungs burn as he hurls across the lawn and down the road, heading in a random direction. He hopes it will be enough. Nate still cries in his arms, head buried deep into Naj’s neck.

There is very little hope of escape, but he has to try anyways. As the woods thicken to his right, he plunges into them and searches until he finds it. A tree. The limbs grow low, and he climbs one-handed and slowly, anxious about dropping Nate. He can tell that the Inquisitors are not far behind. He’s about ten feet off the ground by the time he can hear their footfalls. He takes a seat, hoping that the colors of his clothes help protect him from their watchful eyes.

Nathan is still crying. Naj presses his lips to the boy’s ear and whispers, “We have to be quiet, Nate. If you keep crying they’ll find us.” His cries fade to much quieter hiccups. Naj hugs him close. _I’m so sorry, little one._ What would things have been like if Nathan had been born seven or eight years earlier, when the Jedi still patrolled the galaxy? Would they have pushed Naj’s father off a balcony? Chased the two into the woods? _There’s no use worrying over what might have been,_ he tells himself as the red-skinned woman breaks from the trees. _There are more important things to worry about._

His heart sinks as she stops, closes her eyes, and then heads straight for their tree. 

“Up there, Lord Vader.” She points at Naj perched in the tree, like some strange predator clutching the prey of the hunters. He won’t hurt Nate, though. They will.

“Resistance is a waste of time, boy.” The masked man draws his saber. “Come down now or be slaughtered. I won’t tell you again.” He stares down into helmet of the man, where he thinks the eyes must be. A chill runs down his spine, and an image flickers through his mind of a man’s face, viewed through tears. It’s gone as soon as it starts, a fading echo. 

“Go to hell!” He shouts, wishing he had a rock to throw. The man reaches out and gestures with his hand. Something tugs at Nathan in his arms, threatening to draw them both from the tree. The small boy screams and grabs the front of Naj’s shirt. The something tugs again, and Naj realizes he’s using mind powers, tugging Nate as easily as the young boy picks up pebbles. The third tug is far more violent, and it pulls them both from the tree. Nate is wrenched from his grasp as he tumbles to the forest floor. 

The air is knocked from his lungs as he lands, and he struggles to draw in breath. While he lies on the ground, gasping and choking, Nathan drifts gently into the arms of the masked man. He turns without another word and begins to walk back towards the road.

“Should we kill him?” asks the red woman, kicking him in the ribs with the tip of her boot. 

“That will be unnecessary.” he says without turning around, Nathan screaming in his arms.

* * *

_A man stands in front of a small house in the desert. He wears loose, linen clothing and long brown robes. Jedi robes. He is staring at something, something rather far away. The wind blows, fluttering the man’s robes and sending a wave of sand skittering through the air._

_Who are you? he tries to say, his words swallowed by the howling of the wind. The man looks at him directly now, and all at once the picture shifts. The man is older now, his hair white. A boy with dirty blonde hair lies at his feet. He regards the boy and then leans down-_

_Old Ben Kenobi? a voice is saying it. He’s not sure who, or from where. But it sticks. Kenobi, Kenobi, Kenobi. I’m a Kenobi. I don’t know any Bens, though. There’s Horai and Watts, then Jorna and I. The others are dead. All but-_

_That one. The one who you cannot speak of. Because it’s dangerous, Naj. They’ll have us-_

_Was his name Ben?_

_No._

_His name-_

_His name was-_

_His name is-_

_Obi-Wan!_

Naj sits straight up in his bed, kicking off the tangled sheets and blankets. He’s covered in sweat, and the final word of his dream echoes in his mind. It’s the twelfth night in a row that he’s dreamt of the strange man who lives in the desert. Always the man, always the name ‘Old Ben’.

He makes his way to the refresher and splashes cold water on his face. Tonight is different, though. Tonight- he got the other name. There was always an argument with someone he’d never met before. They always ended before he ended up hearing the name. It had been caught in the back of his mind for years. He’d never forgotten it, but he hadn’t made the connection with his long-lost brother until just now. Of course there was another Kenobi. But he was dead. So why was he having these strange dreams about a man who, if he was honest, looked like him but a bit older?

Since he’d walked from the forest sporting a sprained wrist and a torn shoulder thirteen days had passed. And every night he had a dream. _They have to be worth something,_ he thinks. _Maybe this man is meant to help me find Nathan? To rescue him?_ A conviction fills him suddenly, so strong it feels like whiplash. _I have to find him._

Doubt follows. _How the hell would I even start? There are hundreds of desert planets alone, and that’s not counting regular planets with deserts._ Somehow, he manages to assuage them. He can’t explain it, but he has a strange feeling he’ll be able to. Naj sits down on the end of his bed and puts his head in his hands. _Right now? Yes._

It’s not unthinkable. Since Nathan’s kidnapping, his father has been spending all his time out on the balcony, staring off into space. He’s hurt, and not even his soak in a bacta tank could fix what’s hurting him. His mother is similarly distant, and he often finds her scrubbing immaculate floors or washing clean dishes. Jorna is the worst, though.

The Inquisitors messed up her mind, somehow. Crossed a few wires, pushed her too far. She screams and cries at random, in turns seeming perfectly normal and completely fallen. Sometimes he’d walk into a room only to leave when he sees her staring at a blank wall and giggling. He’d do anything to get her back. 

If the man _is_ their long lost brother, he’ll be a Jedi. Jedi can use the mind powers, perhaps he could help the poor woman out. And if he’ll do that, then maybe he can help Naj rescue Nathan. Because he’ll be damned if he leaves Nathan in the clutches of the Inquisitors a second longer than he has to. His mind made up and possessed by a kind of fevered insanity, he pulls a bag from the back of his closet and begins to pack.

The public transport is dirty and terrifying. As it lifts away from Stewjon he feels a knot of anxiety grow in his belly. _What am I doing?_ But then it’s replaced by resolve _. I have to do this. I don’t know why, but I do._ He leans against the window, away from the old crone on his right. _I will find you, he vows, and we’ll work the rest out then._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading this first chapter, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think (or don’t), and hopefully there will be a second part out by Monday.
> 
> Side note, if you clicked for Obi-Wan content, find another fic. I tagged him because he’s important to the plot, not because he’s a main character. Sorry to disappoint!


	2. Clouds or Concrete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj has started on his journey to find his brother, but doesn’t know quite where to start. Atarria is a planet of unexpected danger, but could it also be a planet of unexpected allies?

Naj doesn’t really come to his senses until the transport lands. He steps off the ship onto the grimy platform below, unsure of what he’s supposed to do now. When he had boarded the transport back on Stewjon, a wildness had filled him, making the important decisions. He didn’t even pick the planet, simply selecting Atarria because it felt right. As he exits the station and enters the city of Ne-Tarr, the uncertainty hits him all at once. 

He stops and leans against a building, gasping. It’s like someone has dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. _What the hell was I thinking?_ Naj prays for the confidence to come back, for the fevor to grip him again and give him some direction. But it doesn’t, and evetually he straightens up and takes in his surroundings. 

The air smells of wet pavement and exhaust fumes, and the asphalt under his feet is spiderwebbed with cracks. People in colorful and varied outfits stroll by, heading in and out of the many businesses lining the street. There are many species he’s never seen before represented in their ranks. Dingy speeders knock pedestrians out of the way with dented fenders. It is night, and the full moons are high overhead. He shoulders his small travel bag and begins to walk down the street. 

With no particular destination in mind he moves slowly, matching the pace of the crowd. They often stop to chat with others that they know. Languages of all kinds fill the air, harsh and foreign to his ears. Street vendors call out prices and wares, while bare-footed children run into people and then dance away, a bit richer than before. Naj guards his own credits carefully, not wanting to be lost _and_ without money on this strange world. It begins to rain, a sprinkle of water falling on the crowd. He picks a building at random and steps inside. 

It’s a cantina; the shady kind where a body can hit the floor and nobody will blink. Naj hesitates at the door, wary of entering, then pushes inside and looks around. A large bar sits along the wall to his right, crowded with patrons. Straight ahead is a stage where a band comprised of two Rhodians, a human, and a Twi’lek play loud music. An area is left empty in the middle where a crush of people are dancing. The walls are covered in splotchy green paint, the floor is dark tile. Along the back wall there is an arch that has strings of beads hanging over it. A man emerges, and as the beads click back into place he catches a glimpse of a booth. 

Uncertainly, he makes his way to the bar. He wasn’t born yesterday; Naj has been in cantinas before, though the places he drives with his friends on the weekends have never been this seedy. The bartender is good at what they do, making drinks quickly and with precision. He doesn’t think they’d have time to poison him even if they wanted to. So he slides into a recently vacated seat and orders the first drink that comes to mind. He sips it slowly, staring off into the distance. His bag he sets on his lap, not trusting the clientele enough to put it on the floor. 

He finds himself watching the bartender. A mask that looks like it was cobbled together from old droid parts obscures their face, and a loose grey shirt hides any figure. Naj cannot determine if it is a man or woman. Suddenly he finds pale eyes staring into his.

“Looking at something, bud?” The voice is female, and lighthearted. He starts from his stupor, sitting up straight in his seat.

“Sorry, I just- zoned out there for a second.” There’s a lull in the number of patrons at the bar. The tender crosses her arms and eyes him up and down. He gets a strange feeling of unease.

“I’ve never seen you around here before, have I?” He shakes his head and takes another sip from his drink.

“I just arrived on Atarria today.” The woman laughs.

“I can tell. The real question is why you’re on Atarria. This place is quite the collection. You aren’t acting like a cocky bastard, so you’re not a smuggler. You aren’t trying to pick me up, so you’re not a spacer. The way you’re holding that pack says ‘drugs’. Maybe you’re a dealer?” His mouth drops open.

“Drugs-! I-uh-Why would you-” She laughs again, pausing to mix a drink. When she turns back to him he’s calmed down. “I’m not a drug dealer.” he says with as much confidence as he can muster. “I’m searching for my brother.” Now her eyes look curious.

“Oh? Who is he?” Naj is taken aback by the question. He can’t very well tell her that he’s looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi. That name is more than enough to attract attention. _So what should I say?_

“His name-well, it’s complicated. I’m looking for a guy who might know where I can find my brother. His name’s Ben. Ben Kenobi.” The bartender recoils as though he’s slapped her. She leans forward on the bar, her face only a few inches away.

“How do you know that name?” Her voice has lost all its playful joviality, her eyes are hard. He leans away from her, nearly tipping over his stool.

“I-uh-heard it. Around.” He feels like he should run away. In fact, he feels like he should’ve run away ten minutes ago. “Thank you for your time-uh-I’ll be going!” Naj tries to rise to his feet, but the bartender grabs his upper arm, fingers clenching his bicep tightly.

“I am going to ask you to come with me.” _Run!_ He jerks his arm from her grip and falls backwards, stool clattering to the floor. The woman draws out a blaster and aims it squarely at his chest. He puts up his hands, dropping his bag. Naj feels a tremble roll through him. _So this is how it ends. You die on the floor of some crappy cantina with shitty music playing in the background. Nice going, strange dreams._

“Oi!” she barks at a nearby patron. The man jumps, looking surprised. “Go get Nora. Tell her we got one.” He nods and runs from the cantina, nearly bowling over a blue-skinned man on his way out. He stares at the bartender. The bartender stares at him. Time seems to speed up, each minute bringing him closer to- what? Will Inquisitors come? Stormtroopers? The local police? He really has no way of knowing.

Then the world explodes. The woman pointing the blaster at him is flung backwards into the drink dispenser, discharging her blaster. Some trigger-happy numbskull returns fire and then the place becomes a frenzy of blaster bolts and screams. A hand grips his shoulder. 

“We need to leave. Now.” He pulls himself into a low crouch and begins to run while ducking, still holding onto this mysterious savior. His mind goes back to the bartender. _What sent her flying?_ _Was it_ _this person? Why would they help me?_ As a laser grazes his ear, he decides he can worry about that later.

Whoever it is leads him through the confusion and they sneak through the archway along the back wall. The room is full of tables that have been flipped over, chips and playing cards strewn across the floor. It’s nearly empty, the only occupant a man clutching his forearm and groaning in pain. They straighten and he gets a good look at the person who rescued him. It’s a young woman around his age, holding a blaster. Dark hair falls into her face, and she pushes it out of the way with a scarred hand. Her face hardens as she looks at him, studying his face.

“Come on.” She leads him to a window and slides it open, kicking out the screen. They tumble into the alley below, the woman catching herself in a crouch upon landing, Naj falling straight onto his hands and knees. He draws himself up, groaning from the pain. Looking up, he is astonished to see that the woman has pointed her blaster at him.

“You’re going to follow me.” She puts out her other hand and helps him up, leaving her blaster pointed at him. “I can’t afford to leave you behind, and I’m not sure I can trust you, but we have to get out of here. The Emperor’s dogs could be here at any moment.” Her voice sounds vaguely familiar, but, once again, there are more pressing matters at hand. Naj is led through a series of dark alleyways full of trash, couples kissing in the shadows, and quite a few animals that live in the trash. They break out into a street lined with apartments that gradually give way to a massive landing zone. The woman opens a gate and heads for the corner of the lot. Dingy looking ships are parked here, nicked and dented freighters. A man who’s wearing about sixty percent of a suit of armor pops out of one as they pass.

“Hey, Da!” he calls, “What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen some shit.” The woman pauses momentarily. 

“Something came up, Bo. I gotta bail on the bounty; shit is going down.” Now the man looks concerned. He reaches for a blaster on his hip.

“Need me to take care of anyone?” She shakes her head.

“I can handle it. You know me. I’ll see you around, ori’vod.” The man shakes his head and then goes back inside. The woman (Da?) leads him to a small, unobtrusive ship parked a few spots away. She puts in the code to open the door, then leads him inside. 

Two seats are situated in front of the controls and displays. To the right is a couple of bunks, to the left are shelves with netting in front to prevent the stuff behind them from sliding around. The cabin is small, with just enough room for two people to maneuver around comfortably. The woman pushes him towards the bunk until he sits on it, then trains her blaster on his chest.

“Alright,” she says, “Where the hell did you hear the name ‘Ben Kenobi’?” He bites his lip. The weird confidence is back, urging him to trust her, but he knows better than to listen this time. He can’t very well tell this woman about the strange dreams he’s been having. For all he knows she’ll turn him into the Empire the first chance she gets. But she did call whoever that strange bartender summoned ‘the Emporor’s dogs’. And she _does_ sound familiar...

“Who are you? I’ll glady tell you what I know about Ben Kenobi, but I want to make sure you’re not with the Inquisitors first.” She shoots him a shocked look.

“The Inquisitors are after you? Shit. That’s not good.” He puts up his hands.

“Not after _me_! They took my nephew. About two weeks ago. I think Ben Kenobi is- or was-” he stops short. “Can you at least tell me your name?” She bites her bottom lip then sighs.

“I’m Eida. Eida Walker. You’re probably going to think I’m insane, but I think I recognize you from somewhere.”

“You- also sound very familiar. I don’t know why. But I guess if you’re not in league with the inquisitors... I’ll tell you what I can. I’m Naj, by the way.” The weird confidence has worn away at his uncertainty, and he decides to follow it once more into the unknown. _Let’s hope this time doesn’t end with a blaster pointed at my face._

“Okay. Great. Fine.” She sinks into the torn pilot’s seat, still pointing the blaster at his chest. He takes a deep breath, then recounts Nathan’s kidnapping. Eida frowns.

“I really hate those _things_. The masked one... and the red woman? I’ve heard of those two. There was a woman; she’d married an ex-Jedi. One who survived. She had just given birth to a baby girl when the Inquisitors showed up. The Jedi fought the masked one, and the wife ran off into the city. The red woman caught up with her just as she was about to get on a ship and go. The wife pleaded with her, woman-to-woman, to let her go and the Inquisitor said yes. Then, as the ship was flying away, she pulled the baby from her mother’s arms with her powers and took it away.” She falls silent. After a long pause, she continues, “So what does all of this have to do with Ben Kenobi?” He shifts uncomfortably on the bunk, staring at the grey durasteel floor.

“I had-or have, I’m not sure- a brother. He’s older than me, a lot older, but he was a Jedi. We think; my parents gave him up when he was three or so. He might’ve washed out-did the Jedi do that? Anyways, after Nathan was taken I started having these weird dreams. The name Ben Kenobi kept coming up; and the image of a man standing in the desert. The last night I had one I also heard the name Obi-Wan. That’s what my parents said my brother was called. We heard about him during the war, and, later, that he died. But these dreams-I think he might be alive. And I think that this Ben might know how to find him. And if I can find him, he might be able to help me get Nathan back. And help Jorna.” Eida looks at him, studying him for a long time. _She thinks I’m insane. She’s going to throw me off the ship for the Inquisitors to find._ Finally, she lowers her blaster.

“I-I-I know why I recognize you!” Eida says suddenly, jumping to her feet in excitement. “The dreams! Your voice! I-I had them, too. I know what you’re talking about, and, most importantly, I think I know what we have to do.” The excitement dies and her face takes on a somber, more serious quality. “I have this feeling-and my feelings are usually right-that I have to help you do this. I don’t know why or how, but I know it.” _There’s still time to run. But I don’t think I will._

“So what do you know?”

* * *

_Yellow eyes bore deeply into his own. There’s a flash, and then the picture splinters. Naj is left in darkness. Then his feet hit the ground, hit something. Light suddenly fills his vision. Sand stirs under his feet, shifting around the new weight. The sun is hot, the air smells of dry soil and a scent that’s vaguely herbal. Far off in the distance, he sees a town. A man’s voice speaks in his ear. My brother... My Brother... Then a pang of sadness and anger and love floods him all at once. Eida’s face flashes before him and then the yellow eyes are back, haughty and cold and terrifying._

_He tries to call out but it’s no use. The dream fades and_

Naj sits up in the bunk, shirtless but unharmed. He gives the cabin a once over and sees no yellow eyes, no sand. The air smells of fuel and sanitizer and smuggler. He cannot see Eida, but he hears her soft voice mingled with a much deeper one coming from outside. Naj descends from the bunk, pulls on his shirt and heads towards the door.

“Eida, are you sure that this is a good idea?” It’s the man who came out of the ship wearing half his armor. “Getting involved with Jedi shit, now that’s-” 

“Listen to me. I know what I’m doing. It’s-call it Jedi shit if it makes you feel better-the will of the Force. You know what I can do. I think that this is an extension of that. I have this feeling-I have to do this. It’s my destiny. Things have to be this way.” She sounds sad, as though she’s been trying to convince him for quite a while.

“It doesn’t have to be.” Now the man sounds sad, and Naj relizes how young he is for the first time. “You know how I feel about you, Da. I-I love you.” She sighs.

“And I love you.” Eida sounds on the verge of tears. There’s a muffled sob and the sound of armor clanking. 

“Not like I do.” Naj decides he’s eavesdropped long enough and steps out of the ship to find Eida and the bounty hunter locked in a tight embrace. The man is now wearing almost a full suit of armor, sans helmet. When they see him they break apart.

“I’m sorry, am I-” The man cuts him off. 

“No. I was-just leaving.” He looks down at Eida with a pained expression. “Goodbye, Da’ika.” She looks back, equally upset.

“Goodbye, Bo.” Then the man dons his helmet and walks off into the night. Eida is crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. Naj bites his lip; having only known the woman for about seven hours he has no idea whether he should comfort her or not. Eventually she turns around and goes back into the ship. He follows. The young woman sinks onto the bottom bunk and pulls her knees to her chest. Naj stands along the opposite wall and looks pointedly out the darkened window.

“That sucked.” He turns to look at her, but she’s staring at the wall, not him. He comes closer and plops down onto the pilot’s seat. 

“I-he could come with us.” She shakes her head, and now she is looking at him with fiery intensity.

“You know he can’t. Can’t you feel it?” Now Naj is very confused.

“What do you mean? I get this strange pull sometimes telling me what I should do, and it’s been mostly right, but I don’t have that feeling about him.” She gives him a long look.

“So you aren’t like that.” What the actual hell is she talking about?

“Like what?”

“Sensitive. You know, a Force-sensitive.” He shakes his head vehemently.

“Like the Jedi?” She nods. “In that case, I’m about as sensitive as a jogan fruit. I was born before the Empire; if I could use the Force I would’ve died with the Jedi.” Eida turns on the bunk so her back is against the rear wall. Her brown eyes seem to shine in the shadows.

“Not necessarily. The Jedi didn’t just snatch your kid, they gave you options. Most people did it because raising Force-sensitives is difficult and the Jedi were legendary. You said your parents gave your brother over, didn’t they tell you this?” 

“No. They didn’t.” _And why not?_ Naj had spent much of his childhood bursting with questions about the Jedi. Why wouldn’t they have told him this crucial information? He quickly changed subjects. “So I could be? How can we tell?” She shrugs.

“That’s the tricky part. A blood test will tell you, but finding someone willing to do one and not turn you in if it’s positive is like finding a farm on Coruscant. Another user could sense you, provided they have the proper training, but, once again, very hard to find.” He frowned.

“So it’s not worth it. To find out.” He slumps in the chair, picking at the torn corner of the cushion.

“No! Finding out if you’re Force-sensitive could be important in case the little incident in the bar last night gets the Inquisitors on your ass. They might actually be on your ass right now because you didn’t cooperate with the baby snatching.” Eida pauses for a moment, deep in thought. “Maybe if we find this Ben, he could tell us if you are. From what I’ve seen of him he looks like a Jedi. And maybe he-” she stops abruptly. “The point is that we need to look for this guy, but we don’t know where to start.” 

“We obviously can’t ask around.” She raises her hands.

“Who says we can’t? You just have to learn how to talk to the right people.” She goes silent for a moment. “I think I have an idea.” He gestures her onward. “I know this woman, her name is Tethys. She-uh-knew some Jedi, a long time ago. If she doesn’t know any Ben or Obi-Wan Kenobis, she might be able to tell us where to start.” Naj nods. The tears have dried from Eida’s face, and having a solid plan makes him feel more confident in the future. There are the nagging questions in the back of his mind- _Why wouldn’t they tell me? Did they know? What’s happening to Nate? What’s happening at home?_ \- but he shuts them out. For now, he’s content to help Eida prepare the ship for the journey ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, once again, I hope you like reading this. Let me know if you notice any grammatical errors, or if you think these chapters are too long. The next chapter will probably be up before Friday, and definitely no later than Saturday. Cheers!


	3. An Hour Remembered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our pair of heros venture to Adriana hoping to find more information about the man (or men) they’re searching for. But their contact has more in store for them than Naj could’ve ever predicted.

It’s mid-day when they finally depart. Eida’s ship is stocked with enough food and water for a week, as well as deodorant and dry shampoo for two. As the fan-shaped craft makes its ascent, Naj looks down at Ne-Tarr and wonders if it would be better to stay. Then they break the atmosphere and Eida puts the ship into hyperspace, sucking up everything in view into a white void. She leans back in her chair.

“We should be to Adriana in about seven or eight hours. In the mean time, how about you tell me who the hell I have aboard my ship?” She makes a good point. Other than the limited amount of knowledge shared during their first conversation, he’s essentially talking to a complete stranger. He wonders why departing with her seemed like such a good idea, then ignores it. Clearly something bigger than either of them is guiding their actions. 

“Well, I was born on Stewjon and lived there for my entire life up until a few days ago. I left the planet a few times but never for long. Before I ended up here I worked for my father’s shipping company. Not exactly exciting.” _Wonder how they’re holding up without me?_ The rest of his family was in no position to run it when he left. A wave of guilt sweeps through him. He banishes it. _If I succeed, we’ll all be much better off than if I just stayed and ran the company._

“So you’re a little one-planet richie?” she says in a sarcastic tone. That stings, even though he can tell she’s joking.

“So what if I am?” He crosses his arms and stares at the floor, heat rising in his cheeks. 

“I didn’t mean it like that. Stewjon, huh? Never been there. What’s it like?” He closes his eyes.

“It was nice, at least, where I lived. We had a house out in the country and a huge forest surrounded it. There was a gravel path that lead to the Larkstone, and I would walk there almost every day when Nate was over. He liked to climb to the top of it. Scared the hell out of me, but I think even if he fell he would’ve caught himself. The trees were beautiful, too. The bark was purple and the little leaves were a much darker color. I climbed them a lot when I was younger. Jorna was-” he stops, pain striking at him. Jorna. Whatever else happened, she didn’t deserve what she got. Eida seemingly interprets his silence correctly and switches the subject.

“Sounds lovely. I was born on a hunk of ice in the outer rim. Kicked off that rock when I was twelve; I left with Bo. He didn’t really have anyone left, and I was done mining all day so other people could make money off of it. Not really my favorite place, if you can imagine.” _Twelve?_

”They let a twelve year old mine?” She laughs.

“That’s the outer rim, bud. I was a slave. They made you start working as soon as you were old enough to walk.” 

“A slave? I thought keeping human slaves died out centuries ago.” Eida laughs again and shakes her head. The half-undone braid she's wearing comes out the rest of the way, and her dark hair spills in front of her face. It gleams in the dim light of the ship, and Naj is struck by how beautiful she is with her hair down. He wonders if he should say something, then decides against it. Eida seems like the type to take offense to comments like that.

“Slavery is all over the place, especially in remote areas. How do you not know any of this?” He’s slightly offended by the question, but he understands it.

“It just wasn’t part of my world.” She nods.

“You had a very odd childhood.” 

“You’re the one who ran away from home at twelve. If that’s not odd, I don’t know what is.” She rolls her eyes.

“I didn’t run away from home, I ran away from my master. Bit of a difference. After that it was relatively normal spacer life. Travel around, hunt bounties, hand-to-mouth. That sort of thing. Millions of people spend their whole lives that way.” _Hunting bounties. At twelve. After escaping slavery. What the hell kind of a holodrama is this?_

“So you’re a bounty hunter.” Eida makes a noncommittal gesture with one hand, the other gathering up her hair into an elastic.

“Not so much anymore. Recently I’ve been trying to find out some more about- well, some family stuff. That’s not important right now. I was helping out Bo with a bounty, and then I was going to head back to Adriana to talk to Tethys. About the family stuff. I was heading there anyways.” Naj can tell that there’s more here; something that she’s hiding from him. But he can’t really blame her for not wanting to give away all of her secrets to the first stranger she meets. 

“So. Do you know how to play sabacc?” She pulls a deck of cards from her sleeves. He grins.

“Mr. Sheltered Upbringing may or may not have a reputation to uphold with his friends back home.” She grins back. 

“We’ll see about that!”

They play for about fifteen minutes. After Naj wins the first round, they realize that there isn’t much to bet, especially not credits. So they play for the top bunk, then for who has to buy the other one a drink. Naj is a decent sabacc player, but Eida is fantastic. Pretty soon he owes her three drinks. They play a few more games just for fun, then break for food.

When their ship touches down on Adriana’s station, Naj feels like he has a much better grasp on the woman he’s traveling with. But there’s still many things about her that he doesn’t know, and that he doesn’t want to ask. Is Eida an ex-Jedi? How did she meet Bo? Are they dating? _There will be time to ask her later,_ he tells himself as she pulls on a hooded cloak. 

“What’s with the weird get-up?” She bites her lip, and he can tell that she’s uncomfortable. 

“Adriana is cold. Here, you should wear this. Helps stop anyone from recognizing us. I guarantee you’ve got a bounty after the cantina, even if the people after you aren’t Inquisitors.” He pulls on the proffered coat. It’s a pilot’s jacket with a high collar, which he pops and pulls up around his face. Eida leads him from the ship and he soon discovers she’s right. They’ve landed on a space station’s landing platform that’s been ray-shielded to prevent people walking around from being sucked out into space. Three dark-green transports stand nearby, and through an opening in the wall, a neighborhood of small houses run the length of the station. If he had to give a rough estimate, it would be about thirty. Several dozen stations orbit the gas giant, mining ice from the rings. Naj doesn’t see why they can’t just freeze water wherever they’re selling it, but perhaps space-ice has unique qualities. 

Eida leads him down one winding street, past container-style houses with small, metal yards in front of them. Though nearly identical, most have small, unique touches- colorful curtains cobbled together out of scraps or rag-rugs set in front of the door. Old men and women sit on stools outside, speaking in a variety of languages. Children in ratty clothes run through the yards, stopping to stare at the passerbyers. She pays them no mind but Naj gives the group a little wave. The rag-tag group shriek and run off in the opposite direction. Eida looks at them and a range of expressions wash over her face. Before he can decipher any of them she has turned away and continued down the street. He quickly follows.

They walk to the end of the road and stop at the second to last house. Hanging on the door is a little wreath of wire set on a hook. Eida walks to the door, hesitates, and then knocks. At first there is no answer, and then the door swings open. Behind it stands a woman of middle age, wearing frayed brown pants and a blue tunic. He salt-and-pepper hair is pulled into a messy top-knot, and her eyes are sharp. She crosses her arms over her shoulders and studies them both for a moment, saying nothing.

“I guess I should’ve known you’d come back one day.” She lets out a sigh and then moves out of the doorway. “Better come inside.” Eida’s expression is unreadable as they follow the woman inside, but her body is tense. Naj follows her and closes the door carefully behind them. 

The door opens into a small sitting room, just a couch, chair and a shelf of books. A tiny holoprojector occupies one wall. The woman is walking through another door in the back wall, through which Naj can see a small table and the corner of a counter. Eida sits on the edge of the couch, hand on her blaster holster. Naj sits beside her.

“Are you okay?” he whispers. She whips her head up to look at him.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m totally fine.” She lets out a loud sigh. “It’s just weird, coming back-I haven’t set foot in this room in a little over five years.” He nods and puts a hand on her arm.

“I think it will be fine.” Eida shrugs his hand off and frowns.

“I’m not so sure about that.” A shudder runs through her body. “I have a bad feeling about this.” The woman comes back into the sitting room with a pitcher and three mis-matched cups. She pours each person a drink and then sits down on the small chair. Nobody says anything for a while.

“Are you Tethys?” Naj asks hopefully. The woman looks him straight in the eyes, and he realizes she only has one. It’s brown, dark brown. But the other is a simple, milky white.

“I am.” She turns to Eida. “Gonna introduce me to your friend, muna?” The young woman rolls her eyes but gestures to him anyways.

“This is Naj Kenobi. Naj, meet Tethys.” Tethys extends a hand and he shakes it. Her skin is rough and calloused, fingers crossed with many small scars. 

“So what brings you home? I haven’t seen you since you left. Not even once.” Eida and Naj share an awkward glance.

“I-er-we have a bit of a situation. I thought you might be able to help us out.” She says. Tethys raises an eyebrow.

“I see. Only come home when you need something. Never, not once in all those years, do you stop by to visit, or to free me, but when you want my help you turn right back up.” She shakes her head.

“Listen, I left because I had to. Maybe if someone had actually given two shits about my safety, I could’ve stayed or come back sooner. But no one did, so I kicked it AWOL.” A connection suddenly lights up in Naj’s brain. _Is Tethys her mother? Why didn’t she say so?_ But before he can ask, the older woman responds aggressively.

“Do you know how hard it was to watch you work in the mines for all of those years? I gave a lot more than two shits about your safety, but I couldn’t do anything about it because I didn’t own you! I tried to keep you off the dangerous jobs, tried to keep them from selling you, but my hands were tied.” Eida stands up, furious.

“I’m not talking about the fucking mines, mom. I’m talking about this.” She balances her empty cup in one hand an glares at the plastic, concentrating. It hovers about an inch above her palm. “This. That’s why they wanted to sell me off. Do you have any idea what happens to people who can do things like this on the slave market? Do you have any idea what a slave like that is worth? I could’ve ended up worse than dead and when they asked you fucking told them. You cried, you pressed that dumbass rock into my pocket, but you didn’t even try to protect me. I figured if you didn’t give enough of a fuck to save me, I wasn’t going to give enough of a fuck to save you.” She takes a deep, shuddering breath. “So I’ve come back. I was gonna anyway, gonna come back and take you somewhere else where you wouldn’t have to be a slave anymore. Then I met Naj and we’ve started looking for this guy together. And now you have the stones to get pissed at me for asking you one simple question? I wasn’t even going to bring it up! But here we are now. Answer our questions and I’ll get you out of here. Or don’t, and I can go back to pretending you don’t exist.”

Tethys is speechless. Naj is as well. There’s a lot to unpack here, a lot that he hadn’t even suspected. It’s between Tethys and Eida right now, though, and so he waits for mother or daughter to speak. Finally, the older woman hangs her head.

“What do you want to know?” Eida crosses her arms and sits back down. She shoots a look at Naj, and he realizes she wants him to speak.

“We want to know if you could tell us where to find a man by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi, or maybe a Ben Kenobi. He’s a Jedi; or he was a Jedi.” He stops for a second, another idea coming to him. “Ben might be an alias.” He remarks to Eida. She nods.

“Didn’t think about that.” she says. Tethys scowls at the floor.

“I knew one Jedi nearly two decades ago. How do you expect me to help you find one who I never met now?” She crosses her arms. Eida sighs.

“Where did you meet that Jedi?” 

“Planet called Evel-Pol. I had been there with my mother for nearly three years when I met him. I was nineteen. Don’t remember his name, just his face. He had blue eyes. Very blue.” Eida frowns. Clearly this visit hasn’t gone as planned. 

“Do you know if he said anything about where he was going?” Tethys shrugs.

“Something about a temple. Don’t remember where. Mind you, this was nearly twenty years ago. Most of the Jedi were killed on the night the Republic fell, and the rest have been scattered across the galaxy. Then they started hunting them down with their stupid ‘questioneers’ or whatever they’re called, so now there are even less. The ones that are left more than likely won’t be hanging around temples, if the Empire hasn’t destroyed all the temples.” _So what now?_ Her answers haven’t narrowed down any of the hundreds of deserts in the galaxy, nor who they could ask to find out more about the man they’re searching for. 

“Okay.” Eida lets out a long sigh. “Are you ready to go?” The question is directed at Tethys, not Naj, but she doesn’t seem to realize this for a moment.

“Me?” An expression of shock ripples across her face. She looks around the room, as if suddenly afraid it will all disappear. “I thought you were angry at me.” 

“I am. But you’re still my mother. I’ll help you get your transmitter out, then I’ll get you to wherever you want to go. After that, Naj and I will continue our search for the Kenobis.” Another silence grips the room, the older woman staring at the much younger one. Then she bursts into tears and hugs her daughter.

“You really mean it?” Eida’s face softens for a moment, her mask wavering, but then the scowl comes back over her mouth. She pushed the older woman away, though far more gently than Naj would’ve expected.

“I do. Come on, we should probably do this in the refresher; removing the transmitter involves a lot of blood.” Tethys gives her a skeptical look.

“Are you sure that it’s safe?” Eida rolls her eyes.

“It won’t be fun, but I can do it without-” she stops suddenly, her face going pale and her eyes going wide. She whips her head around to stare at Naj. A coldness begins to prickle in his gut. “I think they know we’re here.” The words are a small hissing whisper. Tethys gives the pair an odd look.

“What’s all this about?” She crosses her arms over her shirt.

“I’m not sure, but I think someone is coming for us.” Naj nods in agreement. Tethys frowns, then turns to the small ladder in the corner of the room. 

“Go upstairs,” she orders, “you can hide in the ‘fresher or climb out one of the windows.” A pained expression crosses Eida’s face.

“But what about you?” The older woman blinks at her, her face set.

“I guess I’ll have to do some fast talking.” And, without another word, she goes over to the window and peers out of it. Eida takes Naj’s arm and yanks him towards the ladder. They ascend and find themselves in a small room with two cots and a door on one wall. A window sits across from the door, just large enough for them to squeeze through. 

“Refresher or window?” Naj asks. Eida closes her eyes and concentrates. Then she lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Dunno. Here, I’ve got an idea.” She rolls under the cot that sits along one wall and rolls under it. “Come on!” Apprehensively, he follows her under the narrow bed. There’s barely enough room for them to fit, and Naj is just short enough that his feet don’t stick out at the bottom. “Now pull the blanket down over.” He does so, and darkness evelopes the pair.

Eida’s breath is warm on his neck, her arms pressed against his back, hands on his shoulders. He’s rarely been this close to a girl, and the feeling is intoxicating, but he pushes that away for the more bleak reality of whatever is coming for them. _Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t hurt Tethys. For her sake and Eida's._ Because it’s obvious, even to Naj, that Eida wouldn’t rest until whoever killed her mother was dead, no matter how much the woman had hurt her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffie, but this chapter would’ve been way too long if I finished the whole altercation. Got this done sooner than expected. Next chapter probably by Saturday, thank you to the lovely folks who left kudos!


	4. An Hour Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj and Eida hide from the mysterious people following them.

There’s knock at the door downstairs. Naj can hear it through the thin walls and floors of the house. _I feel something. Something off_. Footsteps move towards the door and it creaks open.

“What do you want?” The older woman wastes no time with pleasantries. Eida is rigid beside him. _She can feel it, too. Though she might be able to interpret the feeling better than I can._

“We have received intelligence that a pair of outlaws have landed on this base. Several witnesses report that you allowed them inside your house.” Naj frowns. There’s nothing familiar about the voice, but the tone... _Inquisitors!_

“Letting outlaws into my house?” Tethys does not back down. “There’s nobody in here but me.” A curl of dread hooks Naj’s stomach. Something very bad is about to happen.

“Then you won’t mind if we look around.” 

“I don’t really have a choice,” she says, a sting in her words, “you pigs will come in here and root around whether I allow it or not.” Several pairs of footsteps enter the house, followed by the banging of cabinet doors and scraping of furniture. 

“State your name.” The voice is all-too familiar to Naj. _That won’t be necessary._ He will _never_ forget the voice of the black man who took his nephew away from him. He prepares to run down the ladder and face the monster, but Eida grabs his shoulder. He rolls over to look at her and she gives a tight, terse nod. Bad idea. Naj sinks back to the floor. _Some other day, asshole._

“Tethys.” There’s another sudden wave of something that runs through Naj. This time it’s Eida who tries to leave, attempting to crawl over Naj. He stops her, grabbing her shoulder.

“She’s my mother, Naj, I have to help her.” her voice is low and desperate. He shakes his head.

“If we go down there now we’ll only get the three of us killed, or worse, arrested.” Fire lights her eyes and she continues her struggle.

“Better to go out fighting than like a tooka hiding in-” her voice stops abruptly, her body going rigid. The wave passes again, but it feels different this time. Eida calms a little, some of the tension leaving her body. “I think things are going to be okay.” The conversation still drifts from downstairs.

“I already told you, I live alone.” The older woman’s voice is exasperated. “I had a daughter, but she ran off with some bounty hunting scum years ago. Ask anyone on this station, they’ve got the biggest mouths in the galaxy.” 

“We know the outlaws are here. Turn them over and you will not be harmed.” The dark masked man’s voice is dangerous and full of promise.

“Ha! I believe that.” Naj can hear the eye roll. “What did they even do? Have to piss off the Empire pretty bad to send three Inquisitors out. Especially you. I know all about _you_. The Emporor’s personal attack do-” her voice is cut off in a gasping wheeze. Eida makes no preamble this time, surging upwards and overturning the cot. A loud clang fills the air as it topples to the floor. Naj is on his feet in seconds. There’s a sudden ripple again, dark and awful and powerful. The sound of a lightsaber igniting can be heard from the lower level. Eida jumps down the ladder, blaster drawn, a cry on her lips. Naj follows, no weapon but his fists. 

The masked man stands in the center of the room, one of his hands held high in the air. Tethys squirms several inches above the ground, the crimson lightsaber blade pushed through her chest. Eida is screaming and Tethys is choking and the other two Inquisitors push through from the kitchen. A sudden clarity fills Naj, a feeling of ice-cold water running through his body. Fingertip to toe tip to scalp, the energy is immense. _There’s something I have to do, I have to do something._ He sets his face and thrusts out his palms.

In an almost mirror of the bartender on , the two Inquisitors fly back into the kitchen, a loud crash echoing through the house. The masked man turns his saber off and Tethys falls to the floor. He turns it back on and faces Naj, who’s currently looking at his hands as if he’s never seen them before. _What the hell did I just- Am I-_ His thoughts are cut short when Eida levels her blaster and shoots three quick shots at the dark man. Without any discernible effort he simply deflects them off the blade of his lightsaber.

“You will come with me or you will die.” The man’s modulated voice is powerful and terrifying. The strange energy is fading, and Naj knows he must do something quickly or Eida will die. With a random motion, he seizes the power again and tries to use it. There’s limited success, it does nothing but make the man stumble slightly, but it’s enough. Eida throws her mother over her shoulder and runs out the door. Naj follows.

There’s a quick, desperate race to the ship. The streets are empty and silent now, the only face are peering out of windows and around doorframes. The footsteps of the Inquisitors pound behind them. As the near the ship Eida shouts something at him.

“What?” It’s nearly inaudible between her breathlessness and the roar of blood in his ears. 

“Grab my blaster!” He plucks it from the holster on her hip and stands at the door, aiming for the Inquisitors. Naj has never fired a blaster in his life. The first seven shots do not land anywhere near the Inquisitors, the three that follow merely sort of close. Only one manages to give them any pause. The engines fire up and the ship prepares to lift into the sky. Naj ducks behind the door as it slides shut and the ship begins to lift into the air. There’s a thud. One Inquisitor has jumped onto the roof. With a quick jerk of the controls, Eida tilts the fan-shaped vessel sideways until the intrepid jumper falls off. Naj goes flying, hitting the wall of netted shelves with a bang. Then the ship is in space and approaching light speed. Once they get there, Eida swings around to look at her mother.

“Fly.” she says to Naj, tears clinging to her voice. 

“I’ve never-” he begins to protest, then shuts his mouth. He’s flown, just not in hyperspace. _She needs to be with her mother for now._ Eida lifts the limp woman onto the lower bunk, then croches beside her, holding her hand.

“It’s gonna be alright, mom. We’re going to get you to a Med-Facil. They’ll fix you up, nothing to worry about.” Naj casts a skeptical look at Tethys. Her face has gone pallid and sweaty, her hands flutter about her body. 

“No.” Each breath, each word is a struggle for her. “Eida... I need...” Eida clutches her hand tighter, leaning forward.

“Mom, no! Gar shuk meh- fuck -Save your strength, we’re going to get you to safety!” The older woman gives a jerky shake of her head. 

“Listen... to me, mu-muna. Go to... Alsa-Alsakan. No Jedi but-” she pauses and draws a deep, rattling breath. “Your grandmother h-h-had a little sister. We were so-sold away when I was tw-two. Ask Ko-Pilla.. Pi-lippa’s girls- S-s-shm-” she stops abruptly. “I love you, muna, with every bre-breath in my body.” Her face relaxes as though she’s shed some terrible burden and her eyes stare at a fixed point behind Eida’s head. “He did, t-too. Your father.” A gush of air exits her lungs, and something seems to go out of her eyes.

“Mom! No! No! Nayc! Mom!” Eida shakes Tethys’s shoulders, but it is too late. Tethys is gone. She leans back, going limp, staring down into her lap. Tears stream down her face and she begins to sob. Naj finds an opportunity to get out of hyperspace and he does, moving quickly to where Eida sits on the floor.

“She’s gone! She’s gone!” the young woman sobs, “And it’s all my fault! I never should’ve gone there- I never should’ve saved you in that cantina.” She lashes out angrily, sweeping her arms in a wide motion and knocking Naj back against the shelves. Her eyes go wide after her crashes into them and she curls up into a sobbing ball. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just-” he pulls himself up from the ground, bruised but okay.

“It’s alright. I’m fine. I-” He takes a wincing breath. “I understand.” They remain like that for a long while, Eida weeping on the floor, Naj leaning against the shelves. Eventually the tears dry on her face. She looks up at Naj.

“Bo’s dad died. Before I met him; we would’ve been about ten. He did some crazy shit to get back at the guy who killed him. I never understood that until now.” She shoots a haunted look at her mother’s body.

“What do you want to do now?” he asks quietly. Eida closes her eyes, sighs, then pulls herself into a seated position.

“First, we’ll bury my mom. Then, we’ll go to Alsakan and find this Ko-Pilla or Pi-Lippa or whatever their name is. Then we’ll find this secret aunt.” She looks at Naj. “Do you mind?” He shakes his head.

“It’s probably a good idea to go on the low down for now. For all we know there’s a Jedi on Alsakan who can help us. It’s currently our only lead.” They go quiet. Eida stands and pulls the bunk’s blankets over her mother’s head. She whispers something too quiet to hear.

“What do you think she meant?” the young woman asks, “About my father. I’ve always heard he was a- she told me they didn’t know each other for very long. How could he have loved me? I don’t remember him at all.” Naj shrugs.

“It sounds like your mom knew a lot more than she was letting on.” Eida looks at the lump in the blankets. 

“I guess she did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter today. Next one will be up before Tuesday.


	5. Half-truths, Half-lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lead that Eida’s mother has given takes them to Alsakan, a core world. Will it be safe enough for two people on the run from the Inquisitors?

Eida’s ship lands on Alsakan in the middle of the planet’s night. The tears finished hours ago, after they’d buried Tethys on an undeveloped moon. The flight has been silent and full of tension. Now, as the ship descends amid a cloud of other arrivals and departures, Naj is full of doubts.

“Alsakan is a core world,” he says gently as she lowers them towards a landing port, “do you really think it’s a good idea to hide out here?” She looks at him with red, haunted eyes.

“There’s more people. We can hide better.” She takes a deep breath. “My mother told us to go here. She must’ve had a reason.” Naj bites his tongue. He’s certain of a few things at this point: the Empire is most certainly after them, Eida is definitely able to use the Jedi power ( _the Force,_ he thinks _, she calls it the Force_ ), and they should not be landing on a core world right now. There is truth in Eida’s statement; core worlds have constant travel and this particular world is a center of trade. Force or no Force, the Inquisitors will have a hard time finding them here. 

The list of things Naj isn’t certain of is a hell of a lot longer. Is he able to use the Jedi powers? Will they ever find his brother? What is Eida not telling him? Because he knows that there’s something she’s not telling him. _She knows too much about the Jedi to not be in some way related to them._ He looks at her closely, as though he’ll be able to figure it out by watching her. 

“Why are you staring at me?” she asks, standing up from the pilot’s seat. Naj jumps. 

“I’m not staring at anything- I was just... thinking.” She rolls her eyes. 

“Of course. I’ve done some searching and I think I can find us Ko-Pilla.” She pulls out a small datapad and shows him the screen. “This is Pi-Lippa. She’s been dead for a long time but records show she was related to a man named Ko-Pilla. Second cousins or something. After she died all of her assets went to him. Since my mother, grandmother, and her sister were slaves they would’ve been considered assets. I assume that’s what my mother meant by ‘Pi-Lippa’s girls’, so this Ko-Pilla might know what happened to my grandmother’s sister, or might still have her.” Now that Eida has something to focus on her voice sounds far more steady, as though this search is an escape pod she can hide inside for the time being. He supposes he’s dealt with Nate’s kidnapping the same way, through his search for Obi-Wan or Ben or whatever his name is. His mother did the cleaning. _Grieving is a strange thing._

“Do you know where he lives?” She nods. “How did you find all this out?” 

“You can find anything on the holonet if you know what to look for.” Then she smiles knowingly. “I also had full names, rough dates, and places, so that helps.” Naj shakes his head.

The streets of Alsakan are narrow and crowded, full of street vendors hawking their wares. If Naj thought Ne-Tarr had been a culture shock, then Alsakan was a culture implosion. The few credits he had left were in his front pants pocket, but cutpurses still almost snatch them a few times. Eida sees his struggle and laughs, holding out her hand. She takes the credits and slips them down the front of her shirt. When she sees the horrified look on his face she shrugs.

“Better than having some weirdo shoving their hands down your pants.” He has to smile, but a blush still steels over his face at the thought of where the credits are currently sitting. _Wouldn’t be a bad view._ Quickly, he shoves that thought out of the way. _You’re on a mission and she just lost her mother. Now is not the time!_

They follow the street until it led onto a much wider one, slip into an alleyway, then down another narrow residential street. The houses are close set and not particularly wealthy. _How did they keep slaves so close to the heart of the Empire?_ They turn a Corner and see a young Togruta carrying a large quantity of bags trailing behind a vibrantly dressed girl. The Torgruta has a slight frown on her green lips, clearly a bit out of her comfort zone with the amount of weight she’s carrying. The girl rolls her eyes and gives her shoulder a rough shove.

“Come on, we’re going to be late.” Eida has a tight look on her face and her hand grazes the blaster on her hip as they walk by.

“What’s wrong?” whispers Naj. Her hands curl into tight fists then uncurl.

“That Togruta was a slave. Didn’t you see the necklace she was wearing?” He shakes his head. She sighs.

“You can’t save them all. That’s what Bo always said.” she glances back at the Torgruta. “That never makes it any easier.” The pair walk along the street until they reach a brick house with a small gated yard in the front. The walls are painted a drab tan, the roof red tile. Eida looks at the datapad and rechecks the address. “This is it.”

She knocks on the gate and they wait for someone to come answer it. A few moments later an older looking man wearing a dirty white shirt opens it. He says something in a language Naj does not understand. Eida responds in kind and the two converse for a moment before the man opens the gate and allows them in. They walk through a small yard full of dead, brown grass and broken paved stones. The floors in the house are plain wood, the walls papered. The man leads them to a sitting room containing a small couch and several armchairs. The furniture matches and the room is modest yet tasteful. They seat themselves on the couch and glance around the room.

A short while later, a large veil enters the room. It’s loudly patterned with gold and aquamarine triangles, and flutters about the shoulders of the woman wearing it. Her dress is purple and cut low enough to reach her naval. The skin revealed by this is a lurid green. Naj could not even begin to guess at the race of the woman in front of them. She takes a seat on one of the armchairs and sits upon it as though she’s seated herself on a throne. Crossing her arms, she sits still for a moment. _She’s waiting for us to talk!_

“Hello. My name is Naj Kenobi and this is Eida Walker. Are- Are you Ko-Pilla?” The woman flinches and mutters something to the white shirted man before turning back to face them. At least, Naj assumes she’s facing them because the veil obstructs their view of her eyes.

“I am Ko-Pilla. And I would have to be stupid to not know who you two are. Why have you come here?” Naj and Eida share a glance. The white shirted man quietly exits the room.

“You know who we are?” Ko-Pilla uncrosses her arms and gestures to the view screen on the wall. 

“You two are fugitives of the Galactic Empire. My slave tells me that you, young one,” she points at Eida, “Are here seeking answers about what happened to Po-Lippa’s girls. I still do not understand why you would risk coming to the core to ask about a few slaves.” There’s a slight pause before she continues. “You resemble the older one. Homa, her name was. Sold her off after Po died. Never had much use for a mother and her baby.” Eida’s fingers dig into Naj’s arm. 

“Can you tell us about the younger one? What her name was, where you sold her to?” Ko-Pilla rests her concealed chin on one hand.

“Her name... something like- Shea, I think it was. Or Mi. She had a baby, too. Whole bunch of loose legged women in that family. What could you expect from slaves, though? Still don’t know how she managed it. Po was always a bit soft, perhaps she let the little thing run wild. Was going to free those tramps before I got them. Anyway, sold the pair to the Hutts when the baby was about three. That specific Hutt was Gardula the elder.” Eida is now practically bristling with hostility. _Calm down, please!_

“Where does this Gardula live?” 

“I’m not sure. Whole deal went through a broker and this was many years ago.” She claps her hands. “Well. Do you have any more questions for Ko-Lippa?” Naj turns to Eida. She looks at him with a blaze in her eyes. 

“No.” she spits out the word like it’s a piece of tough meat. “I have nothing more to say to this.. this.. _hut’uun_.” In an undertone she adds, “Do you feel that?” Naj frowns. He’s been focused on the conversation but now that Eida mentions it the weird feeling of unease is coming back. _I have to get her to teach me about this stuff._

“ _What_ did you just call me?” Ko-Pilla can apparently speak whatever language that last insult was in. He glances from woman to woman. 

“What _did_ you just call her?” he whispers to Eida in an undertone. She stands up straight and looks Ko-Lippa directly in the direction of her eyes.

“A _hut’uun_. You heard me!” Ko-Lippa lets out a cry of anger and lunges forward, knocking Eida to the floor. They begin to fight and Naj attempts to pry Ko-Lippa from Eida’s back. The white shirted man runs back in. Like lightning he delivers a swift punch to the back of Naj’s neck. He feels a crack and falls backward, head swimming. Attempting to shake it off, he’s hit with another sudden jolt of unease, much stronger this time. The door opens behind them. The last thing he sees before his vision goes dark is a mask, a mask he’s learned the look of all too well.

* * *

_A small boy stands in front of Naj. They’re standing in a desert, nearly alone. A line of cliffs rise to the west, the only break in an otherwise seamless landscape. The boy stares at him. He stares at the boy. He opens his mouth to say something when everything shifts, fades away._

_He sees the terrified face of Eida. She’s slipping down a cliff, opressive heat rolling over both of their faces. Naj thrusts out a hand for her to grab onto, screaming silently. Eida reaches for him, but then he sees she has no arm at all, and once again the vision goes dark._

_The Jedi stands beside him, staring at him. What brings you here? Who are you? Naj tries to reply but finds blood dripping from his mouth. The Jedi puts out a concerned hand, but the two are separated by an invisible barrier, thinner than filmsi and stronger than transparisteel. Naj begin to cough, the blood flowing from somewhere inside his mouth. Help! he chokes out, I’m Na-_

_The small boy is in a dormitory full of other initiates. That’s what the scary woman calls them, the three other boys and one girl who they’ve taken. It’s dark, his bunk is narrow and crammed and cold, lacking a blanket. He wants to cry but knows if he does that bad things will happen, to him or the others, Ysanne and Ricter and Olli and Gear who he can’t call by their names during training because it’s not safe but he can when they’re alone. Sister and Brothers are what their names are now, and sometimes Nate isn’t sure whether his name is Nathan Lippili or Twenty Six._

_Naj can see him, feel him. He reaches out with both his hands an envelopes the small boy in a tight embrace. Nate weeps into his incorporeal shoulder, not in life but in the Force. They are yanked apart suddenly and Naj can sense fear and pain from his tiny nephew. He thrusts out his fists and_

Wakes up to find himself chained to a ring on the ceiling in the center of a room. He’s wearing binders, the loops of metal connected by electric links. He can hear breathing behind him, but he’s unable to turn around and see what’s going on. The hemisphere he can see is all dark metal and tile. There are no visible door panels, or any distinguishing features besides the tell-tale seams of durasteel paneling. _Are we on Alsakan still? Or on a ship? Maybe even Coruscant?_ He shudders. The Empire’s capitol was a dangerous place for Naj even before he’d gone around looking for Ben Kenobi. 

“Eida?” he calls quietly. His breath still comes in short, ragged pants from the exertion of the dream. He saw me! The man saw me! Maybe he'll help us. There’s a rustling noise behind him.

“I’m here. Is that you, Naj?” He murmurs assent, struggling to twist inside his bonds. His wrists are already on fire. _Whatever the Empire does I hope they do it soon._ “After the weirdo in the white shirt knocked you out, the three Inquisitors that have been tailing us came in and tried to grab us. Unfortunately, the weird mask guy can fucking choke people with the Force and I couldn’t get away. For whatever reason they captured us instead of killing us and sedated me. I woke up here about half an hour ago.”

“Are you alright?” She barks out a short, harsh laugh. “Okay, you know what I mean. Break anything?” 

“My wrist hurts like a bitch but other than that, no.” Naj sighs and tries to settle into a more comfortable position.

“Eida, I know we’ve only known each other for a few rotations but I really have to ask you something.” There’s a clinking of binders behind him but she says nothing. “You agreed almost immediately to come find Obi-Wan with me. You’d never met me before in your life, you had to leave your friend who you quite literally owe your freedom to hanging, and someone was bound to follow us. But you still came.” He pauses, taking a deep breath. _How the hell do I say this?_ “The Inquisitors were never after me, were they?” The woman behind him gives a long, deep sigh.

“No. They weren’t.” There’s more clinking. “They’re listening to us, Naj. I can tell you more about it when we get out of here but until then you’re going to have to trust me.” _Should I?_

“So how much of what you’ve been telling me was the truth and how much was a lie?” 

“Naj, I-” He cuts across her.

“How much was the truth and how much was a lie, Eida? Were we even going to find my brother? Rescue my nephew?” A note of anger has crept into his voice. She lets out a long sigh.

“I can’t say anything more right now. They’ll use it against us. Whatever you do don’t mention your brother’s name. It’s probably too late, but it’s the only shot you have.” When he begins to protest, she adds, “I was going to help you find your brother. I just- The reason behind it was different than ‘The Force told me to do it’. That’s what I told you and Bo, I know, but-” Eida stops. “Someone is coming.” Naj screws his eyes shut tight. The image of his mental hug with Nate comes to mind. _I will come back for you, little one. I promise._

When the door slides open behind him Naj thinks he is prepared for whatever might come through it. Unfortunately, Naj is wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Didn’t have time to edit this chapter so let me know if there are any glaring errors. Thank you for the Kudos everyone. Hope you enjoyed! Next part will be up around Saturday.


	6. There Is No Humor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj and Eida are questioned. Will the truth behind her motives come to light?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains torture and people having their minds searched. If you are uncomfortable with this, please skip ahead to the page break and start reading from there.

Naj knows as soon as the person steps in the room that it’s the masked man. He can hear the heavy breathing, the loud clanging of the boots on the floor. But he can also feel him, feel him with the ‘Force’, as Eida calls it. By now there’s no doubt; Naj’s parents have lied to him. He can’t help but to wonder why the hell this man keeps following him. _Or maybe Eida_. She’s made it pretty clear that they’re not after him, or, at least they _weren’t_. Now who they’re after is anybody’s guess. 

The man marches around until he’s facing Naj. A ripple of fear rolls through him and he braces for the worst. A mental attack, perhaps, or physical pain and torture. He’s never dealt with this before but he knows he can’t trust this man not to kill his entire family out of guilt by association. Eida clanks in her change agains behind him, then gives a jolt.

“The cuffs are designed to suppress Force users’ powers.” The voice is not the imposing one of the masked man, but a much lighter, smoother voice. Another Inquisitor. The masked man holds up a hand for silence. 

“I will ask you a few questions. You will answer them or I will take the answers from your fragile mind.” Naj stares into the black pits where eyes should be and attempts to fix a brave expression on his face, but all he can manage is not showing outright terror. “Where is Obi-Wan Kenobi?” 

“I’ve never heard that name.” Naj braces for impact, prepares for the pain, but it doesn’t come. Instead, behind him, Eida gives a sharp gasp. “Eida!” he shouts. In spite of everything Eida has lied to him about, he doesn’t want to see her come to harm. Especially not on his behalf. She gives another gasp, halfway a scream this time and finally Naj feels some effect. His head- no, his mind- burns. Like someone has taken molten metal and poured it inside of his skull. He screams and thrashes around in pain, not entirely sure of what to do. A feeling of pressure and an alien presence join the metal rattling around inside of his skull. _Oh fuck, how do I stop this? How do I protect my mind?_

He tries to empty it, imagining a plain, brick wall in his mind. _Nothing is here. Nothing to see here. Go away. Not open, closed for renovation._ But each word gives the man another foothold, a little crack in the wall where he can break through and find all of his secrets. The little worm inches his way through Naj’s mind, finally tearing an image from the blurry vision he had on Eida’s ship. _My brother._ There’s a strange, unreadable feeling from the man and the presence retreats, leaving Naj gasping.

“So you are the brother of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Where is he? Does he have the crystal?” _Crystal?_ Naj opens his mouth to respond, then Eida’s chains shift behind him.

“Naj, whatever they don't give them what-” the sentence ends in another half-shriek of pain.

“Do not speak unless you’re spoken to.” The other Inquisitor speaks again. The masked man takes a step towards Naj. 

“Answer the question, boy.” Naj bites his tongue. _You have to try a new way, a different angle._ He closes his eyes and tries to reach for the icy power that he used against the Inquisitors. At the very least he might be able to cause a diversion and give them some time. He cannot find it in time and the man’s attack finds him open and vulnerable. He screams, the painful molten metal returning, the alien feeling of thoughts that are not his own. The masked man roots through his memories, attempting to snatch the answer from the jumbled pieces. Every time Naj feels like he has a good grasp on what he’s trying to hide, another piece of information slips out into the scathing gaze of the man inside his mind. 

The image of the masked man carrying his crying cousin flashes by, the image of his sister laughing at the wall and then bursting into tears, the image of the woman at the bar pointing her blaster at him, the image of- something switches. Naj’s head is still aflame, but less so than before. He feels a second presence in and around his mind, offering him a modicum of protection from the assault of the masked man. For some reason, he knows that it’s Eida.

Suddenly the assault retreats. The masked man moves out of his field of view. In his place steps a woman. She’s wearing long, dark robes. Her hair is crimson red, her eyes gleam an angry yellow. In her right hand she holds a strange, short stick. It looks similar to a lightsaber hilt but, judging by the few he’s seen, it isn’t one. The grip she has on it is far different and the end pointed at him is in a different format than the usual emitter. It makes an unpleasant buzzing noise.

“What do _you_ know of Kenobi?” the masked man’s voice barks from behind him. He can feel Eida’s presence retreat, folding back into her own mind. 

“He’s dead.” The lie rolls off her tongue almost too easily. “We got to his house and he was just there on the floor, blaster bolt through the chest.” The woman moves forward and presses the stick to Naj’s shoulder. He screams as a jot of electricity courses through his arm, causing him to thrash in his restraints. _How the hell was Eida not begging me to spill everything?_ “Hey! I answered your question! Leave him alone!”

“You did. And you lied.” The woman removes the stick from his shoulder. “Now, the real question is what did you do with it? We searched your ship and your person but we were unable to find any trace.” Eida’s chains clank, and maybe it’s just Naj’s bruised and bloodied mind playing tricks on him, but he thinks he can feel Eida being attacked. To be sure, he _reaches_ out, pushing onward, until he hits a wall and-

“Naj, STOP! It’s hard enough with just him! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Quickly he retreats back inside the confines of his own skull, unable to help. The man lets out a strange noise that is distorted by his modulator; perhaps a chuckle. It’s odd; the man does not seem like the type to chuckle.

“Again.” Eida’s chains clank. “Where is the crystal?” There’s a yelp of pain from Eida.

“Go to hell, I’ll never tell you!” Something shimmers in the Force, a ripple. Naj can feel it. Something is going on.

“Perhaps not,” the footsteps begin to stomp around again. “But he will.” And the pain that comes this time is indescribable.

* * *

Hours later both prisoners hang limply in their restraints. The sleeves of Naj’s jacket are stained with drying blood. He can’t see Eida, but assumes she must be in a similar predicament. The interrogation proved nearly fruitless for the masked man. He did not receive the location of the crystal he was looking for; nor did he find the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi. But something the other interrogator said as they exited the room gave Naj pause. 

“The Force seems to have a sense of humor.” The masked man had stopped for a moment. 

“The Force has no humor. It is merely your perception of irony.” And then both had left the room, leaving Naj and Eida alone in the dim light of the interrogation room. They remained silent for several minutes. Now Eida begins to cry quietly. Naj can feel a few tears welling up himself. After a few moments of this the crying stops abruptly.

“We have to get out of here.” she says it with the same determined conviction she had about Ko-Pilla. Naj pulls himself together.

“How?” She begins to shimmy around in her restraints.

“Well, I can’t cut these.” She pauses. Then- “Unless they’re gonna execute us with some sort of poisonous gas they’ll have to send someone in eventually. I think I have a plan.” Naj sighs.

“I guess you can’t tell me what it is?” 

“No. Sorry.” They continue to do nothing. Naj stares at the seam along one of the panels. He thinks about Nathan, and his family back on Stewjon, and Ko-Pilla, who is probably the owner of a handsome bounty at this moment.

“Can you tell me about this crystal?” Eida lets out a long sigh.

“Well, they already know what it is. There’s no point in hiding it, really.” She pauses for a moment. “How much do you know about kyber crystals?” Naj thinks for a moment.

“Jedi use them to build lightsabers. They’re also a powerful energy source.”

“That’s not everything about them, but good enough. Have you ever heard of a holocron?” He shakes his head, realizes she can’t see it, then gives a ‘no’ out loud. “A holocron is- Well, to put it simply, a device Force users store knowledge in. That’s not exactly it, but it’s what you need to know. You have to use the Force to open them, and they can read information stored in kyber crystals. The crystal they want so badly is one I stole from them. It’s a list of all known living Jedi. I’ve had it for a few months now. You can imagine why they want it so badly.” _So that’s why they came after us so aggressively._

“So what does that have to do with my brother? And why did _you_ have it?” A thought hits him, something he’d wondered about before but immediately dismissed. “Eida, are you... a Jedi?” There’s another deep sigh from behind him.

“I’m not a Jedi. Not really, anyways. It’s... complicated. As for why I had the crystal and why I needed to find Kenobi, I can’t tell you right now. Once we get out of here I’ll start from the beginning.” She pauses. “I- I shouldn’t have lied to you. What I was doing can- and has- gotten people killed. You should’ve been warned of the risk. That’s something I really am sorry about. But that pelikki’s been killed and eaten now, so for the moment let’s just focus on getting out of here.” Naj takes a few deep breaths in and out. _What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

“Okay. Fine. So what’s this brilliant plan of yours?” 

The brilliant plan, as it turns out, is to wait for someone who isn’t there to interrogate them and use the Force to escape. The only problem with the plan is that Eida is currently wearing Force-suppression cuffs. It’s anybody’s guess whether or not she’ll be able to mind trick with them on, but there’s no way for her to fight. Naj is not under any sort of Force suppression, but he can’t consciously use the Force yet.

“I’m pretty sure you _can_ use the Force... when you pushed those Inquisitors back on Adriana, what did you do? How did you get to the power?” Naj closes his eyes and thinks back to the house, when he jumped down the ladder. Everything had happened so fast. _I did feel the icy power. I just need to find it again._ He gropes around inside his head, his mind, his body. There! A faint prickle touches the back of his mind, and he seizes the rushing lightning once more, feeling it roll through him. There is a feeling of déjà vu, a faint memory of having touched the power before. Like stretching your legs after sitting down for hours. 

“I- I feel something!” He looks up at his binders and wonders if he can break them. The only thing he succeeds in doing is rattling them around a little.

“Okay, good. Now try to grab your binders and open them.” All he can do is send light waves of energy at the metal. Angrily he grabs more of the power, channeling it into a few tendrils that he wraps around either side of the cuff. Naj pulls as hard as he can, and the cuff rattles, the metal distorting slightly. Almost there... and _snap!_ The cuffs fall raggedly off of his wrists and Naj falls unceremoniously to the floor. He lets go of the power and feels lightheaded, the ache in his muscles amplified. 

“Naj! Are you alright?” He groans in response, examining the fetters around his ankles. “If you can find a thin piece of metal you might be able to pick the ones on your legs. Unless- Oh yeah, di’kut, we’ve been captured by Imperials.”

“What?” His brain feels sluggish and slow, moving like molten glass.

“Sorry, Imperial cuffs are operated by electronic locks. There aren’t any key holes.” For the first time in however long it’s been since Ko-Pilla’s living room he gets a good look at her. Blood drips from her wrists, too. The long cloak she was wearing has disappeared. “You’re going to have to bust out of the leg-binders, too. Unless you break me out first; then I can do it.” Sighing, Naj repeats the process from before, nearly collapsing from lack of energy. Eida falls to the floor next to him. She makes quick work of their remaining binders and hauls Naj to his feet. “They’ll be here any moment.”

His legs feel like jelly, and he wobbles unsteadily across the ground. Eida takes up a position beside the door, a chunk of metal over her head, ready to bring it down on whoever comes through. When the door finally slides open she cracks it on the head of the crimson haired Inquisitor, who has apparently been sent to apprehend them, then tosses it out the door. They run to the end of the hallway, blaster bolts echoing behind them. 

They turn around the corner at a breakneck pace, Naj stumbling and nearly falling in his attempt to keep up. The halls they run through all look the same; minimalist and sterile. The walls are dark durasteel or plastoid panels, the floors dark tile. Occasionally they pass doors that are grey without any sort of markings, panels set to the side. Alarms glare overhead. There are no windows and the monotony is extremely disorienting. Finally they stop, hitting a sort of archway protected by a ray-shield and two guards. They shout and level their blasters at the escaping prisoners.

“You _will_ let us pass.” Eida says, waving her arm in front of her. A shiver of power marks her words. The two men exchange a glance. 

“We... will let you pass.” One of them presses a small key-chip into a slot in the wall. They run through the now-clear archway and enter a small room full of elevators. The pair run into one at and Eida punches several of the buttons on its panel at random. As they begin a slow ascent, Naj sinks to the floor.

“You good?” She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the wall. 

“Not really.” She laughs, a little desperately, but still a laugh, and Naj finds himself smiling, at least a little. _She lied._ The thought sends a sharp spike of betrayal running through his heart. He brushes off the hand and struggles to his feet. “Let’s stay focused. Where are we?” A frown crosses her lips but it soon changes into her fixed, neutral expression.

“Great question. We could literally be anywhere, but this lift goes down pretty far. I think we’re on a planet, but is it still Adriana? I don’t know.” The lift slows to a halt and the door slides open. Standing outside the lift are a pair of military officers holding cups of caf, shocked expressions on their faces. Eida pushes past them and Naj follows, the hallway now a much lighter color, more grey than black. She seems to be searching for something and a few turns later, they find it. A window.

Outside the thin pane of transparisteel is a city, the road visible some thirty-five feet below. Speeders rush past, people move in a slow crawl. They’re none the wiser to the two fugitives observing them, and for a moment Naj wonders what he would’ve done if someone who looked like he does right now walked past him back on Stewjon. He’d probably shudder and count himself lucky for avoid robbery. _Life got a whole lot stranger after Nathan got taken._

“I think we can make it,” Eida says, finding the latch on the window and sliding it open. “Or, at least, I can. You might want to hold onto me for this one.” Naj stares at her, dumbfounded. 

“What the actual hell?” He takes a step back from the window, a speeder rushing by several feet below. “You want us to jump from a third story window?” She rolls her eyes. 

“Yes. Grab onto my back, we have to get out of here before security shows up.” 

“Have you gone completely insane?” She grabs onto his forearm.

“Trust me.” He jerks away and folds his arms.

“That’s worked out well in the past, hasn’t it?” A look of hurt runs over her face. She opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by the sound of boots approaching at a run. 

“Look, you can come with me or you can wait here for the stormtroopers to show up. Your choice.” Eida pulls herself onto the window ledge and balances there, turning to look back at Naj. “Coming?” He heaves a sigh and wraps his arms around her shoulders. “Three, two, one!” And she pushes off the building as the first troopers reach the hallway and open fire.

The wind rushing through Naj’s hair wakes him up from the stupor using so much energy put him in. Eida steers them around air traffic and then lands on the sidewalk in a neat crouch, Naj holding onto her like a backpack. She lowers him to the ground and they stand, looking at each other.

“We should probably run.” He nods, and the pair run off into the dark streets of the city, together, but far more wary than they were before, both of capture and each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary of the scene you may have skipped: Vader finds out Naj is Obi-Wan’s brother and questions them about a crystal Naj didn’t know about. That’s all the plot-important info AFAIK. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, we’re at 44 hits now! Hopefully the next chapter will be out by Tuesday. I got this one out ahead of time and I know where I’m going with the next one, so maybe it will be up even sooner! Discovery writing is hard sometimes.


	7. A Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj finally learns more about the mysterious friend he picked up on Ne-Tarr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There has been a small retcon in relation to what the crystal they wanted from Eida does. As I said before, discovery writing is hard. Now it’s the Inquisitor’s list of living Jedi.

Night finds them in a back alley, crouching in the shadows of a tall building. They are in one of the least reputable areas Naj has ever seen, people spaced out on spice littering the streets, half-starved tookas hissing at them from the shadows. Trash covers most everything and the concrete below their feet is practically non-existent in places. Buldings are mostly boarded up and derelict, full of rats and squatters. His eyes are heavy with exhaustion, but he does not sleep. Instead he looks at Eida, whose face is a thousand miles away. 

“What are we going to do now?” She flinches, drawn from her stupor by his voice. Her eyes close and then open slowly.

“I believe you still owe me a drink.” The woman pulls herself to her feet and offers him a hand. “Several.” He ignores the hand and pushes himself up, legs tripping over themselves. 

“Well, you’re the one who had the credits in your shirt. Did the Inquisitors take them?” She turns away, checks and then turns back. A small amount of money is held in her palm. 

“Apparently not.” Deciding it too risky to enter one of the many cantinas, they buy from one of the more reputable looking vendors and retreat to another alley. Naj twists off the cap and takes a deep drink from the bottle, a trail of fire burning it’s way down his throat. He wipes the top with his blood-stained sleeve then passes it silently to Eida. He sits on the cold concrete, leaning his head back against the wall. She slides down next to him and takes two long sips. “I guess I should probably start talking.” He nods and accepts the bottle from her outstretched hand. She sighs deeply and runs a hand through her hair. 

“I’m not really sure where to start.” She bites down on her lip. Naj looks at her in the half-light of a nearby street lamp, and for a moment he doesn’t care that they don’t know what planet they’re on, or that Eida lied. He sees her lips, and maybe it’s just the alcohol talking, but he wants to feel them pressed against his. Then life resumes and reality hits him. 

“Who you really are- or what, I guess. That’s a good spot.” She takes a swig of alcohol for courage and then begins. 

“I _am_ Eida Walker. That’s never been a lie. My mother was a slave, and her mother before her. I didn’t know my grandmother well, just until I was five. She’s dead now. I found out while I was looking into Ko-Pilla on the net. My mother was always determined that I was going to have a better life than she did. She was nineteen when I was born, and spent all the time she could spare trying to save up the credits to buy our freedom. For some reason or another there was never enough.” Eida pauses, pensive. “I guess I was a little hard on her. Maybe I shouldn’t have- that’s not what you care about, though. Sorry.” She holds the bottle out to Naj.

“I care about you.” The words come out strangely, because Naj might’ve said something different if he had been fully awake and sober. But they are the truth, and maybe Eida can see that because she goes quiet. “I mean it. You lied to me, but for some reason I can’t explain I do. Maybe it’s just us, maybe it’s the Force, maybe it’s because we’re drinking in a dark alley with half the galaxy hanging over our heads but I care about you.” Their fingers brush as he takes the bottle and he almost takes her hand. But something makes her let go and he keeps the bottle, eventually bringing it to his lips.

“That’s really sweet. I have to keep going though, because if I don’t finish now I have a feeling there won’t be a next time.” She draws her knees up to her chest and hugs them. 

“Like I told you, when I was twelve I ran off with Bo. Hung around with him for about three years before I kicked off on my own. We had a... disagreement about what I should use my powers for.” A morose look crosses her features and she returns the alcohol. “He ditched me on a dust ball in the middle of nowhere. I was halfway dead by the time I stumbled into a church and that’s where I met the man who taught me how to use the Force. He had been a Jedi once, and he was reluctant at first to help me, but for whatever reason he did. His name was Eeth.” She hands the bottle back to Naj. “He taught me how to meditate, refined my crude object manipulation skills, how to sense things with the Force. Never anything that could be construed as aggressive; no saber combat and no mind tricks. He was pretty pacifist. I lived with him and his wife for a while. A few years, maybe.” A flicker of several emotions run over her face and Naj can see a few tears trickle from the corners of her eyes. He puts out a hand, and when she reaches for the bottle in it he sets it down and takes her hand instead. Her grip tightens on his and they sit quietly for a moment, eyes on each other. 

“You can stop if you want to. We can take a rest here, and then maybe in the-” she shooshes him with an agrressive finger.

“No. I need to keep going. I’m afraid that if I stop I’ll lose my nerve.” After a shuddering breath, she continues, “That story I told you back on Atarria, the one about the red woman and the masked man? The Jedi in that story was Eeth. His wife, Mira, had just finished up having her baby and I was waiting outside. That’s when I felt something wrong. It was three Inquisitors. I ran into the room to warn him but it was too late; they were right behind me. Eeth tried to reason with them; convince them that he had given up on the Jedi ways and even offered to help them find other survivors, but the masked man didn’t care. Eeth told me to run with Mira and the baby and we did. Got almost all the way to Mira’s father’s ship. Then the red bitch performed her trickery. Mira was crushed; her father refused to turn back and land.

“I jumped. It was pretty insane- I had no lightsaber, no real offensive techniques at all besides some skill with a blaster I didn’t have and a few good punches. Even in the moment I knew it. So I snuck behind her and the other Inquisitor. Followed them and stowed away on their ship. It’s a miracle none of them sensed me. I’m still not sure what they were playing at. I followed the masked man. He handed the baby off to two droids and then went into another room. I wanted to stay with the baby, but something told me to follow him. He and another man were looking at the list. After they got distracted I swiped the crystal it was on and ran. Tried to get Mira’s baby but they caught me. Made it off planet and hid for about three months. That’s when I met you.” He keeps hold on her hand. They’re sitting so close to each other yet so far, and Naj’s head is spinning with these revelations. 

“Where is it now?” Naj asks. She smiles a tired smile at him.

“You’re not going to like it.” Unbidden, his eyes glance down at her breasts. She laughs now, struggling to regain her composure. “You really think those Imps are above looking through people’s underwear? They probably scanned me, fool!” He drops her hand, embarrassed, and folds his arms across his chest. Eida puts a tentative hand on his shoulder. “The crystal is safe, trust me on that. It’s on Ne-Tarr. I was meeting an old friend in that cantina when you attracted the attention of the bartender.” 

“Do you know if the bartender was working for the Inquisitors?” Eida shrugs, picking up the bottle with her free hand and taking a swig.

“Maybe. She sure bristled like a tooka when you mentioned the name ‘Kenobi’.” She sighs again and glances at Naj. “I really was going to help you find him, Naj. I told you, I have the strange dreams too. Mine are a bit different, though. A man’s voice, a voice I’d never heard before, called out the name ‘Ben’. A lot. Along with visions of an old man in the desert. The final night before I met you the voice said ‘Naj’. Ever since then the dreams have been weirder. I always end up falling near a river of fire. I can feel myself burning, and I know there’s help just beyond my view but I can never pull myself up the bank.” She shudders. “When I met you and I found out that the Ben I’d dreamt of was a Jedi, I thought I could convince him to train me in exchange for the crystal. I thought that’s what the Force was telling me with these visions. Then we got sidetracked with my mother’s tip, and, well, here we are.” They are silent once more. Eida’s hand is still on his shoulder and he turns and puts one on hers. Her eyes shine in the dim light, and her hair is wild from the day’s exhaustion. 

“I think I understand now. I don’t know if I forgive you, but I understand.” A hopeful look crosses her face.

“Thank you.” There’s a sudden, loud noise and both jump after a moment. It’s a tooka sitting on the top of a nearby trash can. They make eye contact and collapse into hysterics. “I think it’s time to go to sleep.” Eida says after a few minutes, collecting herself. Naj sighs and looks around for a spot to sleep. He pulls himself down the dingy brick wall of the alley to the very end of the space, lying down on the dirty pavement in the corner. Eida follows him and lies down on the opposite side. “Night, Naj.” 

“Night, Eida.” As soon as his eyes close the overtired Naj finds himself asleep.

* * *

_It’s him. His brother. They are eye to eye again, and this time Naj feels no blood clogging his throat. The man looks at him with cautious curiosity, his arms folded. Though he can’t be much older than forty-five his hair is streaked with grey. Neither speaks for a time._

_I must ask once again, says his brother, Who are you? Naj blinks calmly. There is no urgency in this dream._

_Naj. That’s my name. Naj Kenobi. A frown crosses the older man’s face._

_Why do you seek me, Naj? He wonders how he might explain the series of events that lead him to this moment. Eventually he grasps the words, but as in most of these dreams the picture fades out and he comes to in a large garden full of lush plants, mossy stone bridges, and small, well-traveled walkways half-hidden by brush. The burble of water echoes through the air, and it smells of growth and springtime._

_He wanders for a moment, at peace with his surroundings. There is no one else that he can see, but something tells him he is not alone. He picks one of the paths and follows it through the trees until he arrives at an old, broken fountain. The water is still and the edges are cracked. Vines have grown over the structure, attempting to reclaim it. Sand is strewn around it, clean and dry sand. Naj hears laughter and he turns around to see Eida standing behind him._

_She’s not like any Eida Naj has ever seen. Her hair is long and unbound, her spacer’s attire replaced by a long, blue tunic and brown pants. A smile paints her face, which has lost its hard edges. She holds out a hand and he takes it, as though he’s taken her hand thousands of times. Eida pulls him closer until their faces are inches apart and then their lips nearly touch. Then the dream melts and carries him on a wave of darkness to a new image._

_The raging river of fire burns behind her. Eida is standing on a bank, boots inches away from the torrent. He holds out a hand for her, strechting as far as he can._

_Grab on! But fear and anger have overtaken her deep blue eyes. She backs away, shaking her head, before her heel hits the river and she gives a startled leap forward._

_I can’t! Suddenly the ground crumpled under Naj’s feet and he screams, scrambling around to something, anything to hold onto when_

Naj wakes up in the alley and is immediately confused. Something warm is pressed against his chest, and his arms are wrapped around it. His back aches and cold leeches into the side of his body touching the pavement. He begins to sit up and realizes that the warm object he’s holding is actually Eida. Her face is against his chest, one of her arms is curled beside it and the other is wrapped around him. Suddenly he freezes, unsure of what to do. The last time he’d woken up with a girl pressed onto him was about a month ago, and they’d had a little bit of an introduction before jumping to waking up next to each other. Luckily, Eida wakes up at this exact moment.

After a few seconds of hesitation she pushes away from Naj and rolls against the opposite wall.

“What the fuck?” He sits up, feeling warmth flood his cheeks. I’ve gotta be bright red right about now. It’s at this exact moment that a splitting headache sudden hits him. He pushes his hair back out of his face. 

“That’s my response, too. I woke up and-” he cuts himself off, realizing a few moments too late that he’s sporting a bit of a lump in his pants, a lump that Eida almost certainly felt. “Um- I- We were just sleeping, I think? The last thing I remember we were laughing our asses off at a Tooka and then we went to sleep.” The woman rolls her eyes but even in the dim, dawn light he can see a bit of a blush on her face.

“Whatever. Let’s... not talk about this. Like, ever again. Especially not in front of Bo.” Naj bites his lip.

“Are you two-”

“No. Not really. But he wishes things were that way.” She closes her eyes and leans against the wall. “I love him. And at one point I loved him like that, too. But that’s ancient history now. At the present moment, we need to find us some water, figure out where we are, and see if I can call in a favor to get us off of this dump.” She stands up and stretches.

“Where are we heading after this?” Naj climbs to his feet, feeling tired but not limb-shakingly exhausted.

“Great question. We have a few options.” They begin heading out of the alley. “One, we can stay here until things die down. I don’t like that option. We’d be sitting ducks. Two, we can get a ride out of here and try to find Gardulla like Ko-Pilla mentioned, although that’s probably a trap. Three, we can keep trying to figure out where Obi-Wan Kenobi is, although we’re pretty much out of leads.” Naj thinks for a moment. _I don’t really want to stay here, and I don’t think Eida does either. I still want to find Obi-Wan, but there’s no clues as to his location._

“I think our best bet is Gardulla. I’ve heard of the Hutts before; I’m pretty sure everyone has. I have a feeling that there’s a link here somewhere, between our searches. Couldn’t tell you why it is but I have a feeling that if we find you great-aunt that we’ll find Obi-Wan.” Eida nods solemnly.

“I feel it, too.” A frown crosses her face. “Naj, do you ever get the feeling that there’s something weird about us?” He laughs, wincing shortly after from the pain. 

“Of course not! It’s not like we’re both related to Jedi, or hiding a dangerous artifact somewhere on Ne-Tarr! There’s nothing weird about us at all.” She stops him and looks him in the eyes.

“I’m serious! Do you remember what that Inquisitor said, about the Force having a sense of humor? Then the masked asshole said it was only what she saw as irony? What was ironic? That I stole the crystal? That we got captured at all? It makes no sense! There’s something we don’t know about, Naj. I think we’re connected somehow, and that Inquisitor knows it.” Naj raises an eyebrow.

“The dreams. Last night I had one about this garden and I followed this path to an old, broken fountain and there was sand around it. Then I turned around and-”

“I was there? Wearing weird non-spacer clothes? And we- Well, almost kissed?” He nods, then glances around them. This section of alleyway is slightly better maintained, the pavement marred by fewer cracks, the walls appearing to have been painted within the last few decade. The hour is early and there is no one nearby. 

“Did you have the one after? With the fire?” Eida lets out a deep sigh.

“I did.” She, too, glances around the alley. “Come on. We can worry about this later. My head hurts and Gardulla isn’t going to find himself.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter! As always I’m open to criticism and other comments. Lots of dialogue in this chapter, sorry if it feels like exposition. 
> 
> Side note: I just finished watching the Clone Wars and now I’m really sad. But it did inspire me to finish off this chapter, so there’s a bright side somewhere! Next one will be up either Friday or Saturday.


	8. New Daggers and Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eida and Naj find a ride to the last known location of Eida’s great aunt. Will they ever make it there?

By the time they arrive at one of the more dubious docking ports Alsakan has to offer, Eida has barted them a container of water and a handful of protein bars each with part of their dwindling supply of credits. They eat the food as they walk over darkly colored pavement and slide under a fence. The dock is in one of the less reputable areas of the city. Security there is lax. The docks are surrounded by warehouses dark in color, their windows panes of transparisteel webbed with wire. Four gates lead off into the city, surrounded by clumps of surly looking guards. Chipped and cracked datapads are carried by clerks in shabby uniforms who seem to be bribed at nearly every turn. 

Ships of all shapes and sizes full the area, dock workers loading and unloading crates both large and small. Pilots stand around, hands in pockets, puffing on cigarras and swapping tales. Eida casts a critical eye over the area and saunters up to one particular pair; friends of hers, judging by the greetings. Naj hangs back, unsure of whether or not he should join the conversation. Then a cream-colored Twi’lek covered in enough tattoos to make a Zabrak jealous makes the decision for him.

“Gonna introduce us to ya friend, Eids?” Her voice is rough and heavily accented. Naj steps into the huddle, hands in the pockets of his jacket. 

“This is Naj. Picked him up back on Atarria.” The Twi’lek takes a long drag on her cigarra. A Rhodian eyes him up and down with some level of interest. 

“So is he the reason why the Empire’s on your ass? Or did you drag the poor fellow along?” Eida rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. The Rhodian puts out his hands. “Hey, maybe he dragged you along. Certainly not bad to look at, for a human. I’d give a hundred to see what Bo did when he rocked up.” 

“He was pretty calm about it, surprisingly. Didn’t even give him the ‘Don’t you even think about it’ shakedown. Course’ it was pretty late when I met him. Anyway, the Emps must be getting desperate if the likes of you are hearing about what I did.” Eida’s speech has fallen into a rougher pattern, one that matches the tones of the smugglers around her.

“Ya lookin’ for a ride, aintcha, babe?” The Twi’lek is no nonsense, getting straight to business. 

“You could say that.” Her mouth twists into a grin. The Rhodian rolls his eyes. 

“I’m heading to the Arkanis sector, if you’re going that way. Help me beat off the pirates that hang around there and we’ll call it good.” Eida considers this for a moment. The Twi’lek chimes in.

“Ya said ya found this kid on Atarria, right? I’m headin’ thataway, if ya wanna take him back.” She grins, revealing stained teeth. “Course ya could always leave him with me. I sure wouldn’t mind.” As she says the last part she winks at him and if he had a mirror he’s sure he would see himself blushing far redder than the slight tint of his hair. The Twi’lek lets out a cackle of laughter. “Only jokin’. So what’ll it be, babe, Atarria or Arkanis?” A look of deep thought comes over her face.

“Can I talk to Naj for a minute?” The pair nod their assent and Eida pulls him a short distance away. “What do you think?” Naj shrugs.

“We’re looking for Gardulla, right? Where does he- or she, not really sure- live?” As he finishes his sentance he jumps out of the way so that a short man pushing a hovering crate can pass through.

“I don’t know. Left my datapad on the ship and that poor thing is probably spare parts by now. I haven’t been able to research Gardulla. I know the Hutts live on Nal Hutta, but that’s not a safe place to go unless you happen to be carrying large quantities of spice. Even then... If we go back to Atarria, we can grab the crystal from my friend. I’m not so sure it’s safe there anymore, because it’s hard to tell how much that masked asshole got out of my head.” _If we have the crystal the Inquisitors won’t hunt us any more or less than they did before. But going back to Atarria could be dangerous, and if we get captured again the crystal will fall into enemy hands. Arkanis is all the way out in the Outer Rim. If there’s anywhere to find a Hutt, it’s there._

Just as he’s about to respond a figure comes out of nowhere and grabs onto Eida. Certain it’s an Inquisitor, he pulls himself into his best attempt at a defense position, hands curling into fists. Then he realizes that Eida is somewhere between laughing and crying, and the person is embracing her, not arresting her. After a good look at the armor, it hits him. _Bo_. His thoughts jump to the conversations of that morning and the night before. _At one point I loved him like that, too._ Whatever else is going on between them, he can tell that she’s happy to see Bo again.

“So how’d a pair of fugitives end up in the Core?” Though his face is hidden behind a helmet, Naj can hear the smile in his voice.

“My mother,” and for a second Eida’s cheer fades, “gave us some information. We were here asking some questions when our contact turned us in to the Inquisitors.” The man shakes his head.

“Your mother? A contact? Who could she have possibly known?” Eida pulls herself gently from his grasp. 

“It’s... family stuff. I’m searching for her aunt, my grandmother’s sister. We’re trying to find a way to Gardulla the Hutt, who according to Ko-Pilla had her last.” 

“Gardulla the Hutt? Last I heard of her she was locked in conflict with Jabba the Hutt over some dustball in the Outer Rim. I happen to be heading there, as a matter of fact.” Eida’s eyes lighten with hope.

“Can you give us a lift?” He nods.

“Sure. What are old friends for? I’ve got some... business to take care of. Come back here around dark; I’m in bay 357.” Eida thanks him and the two exchange a few bits of pleasantry before he heads off into the city. Naj stares at his retreating back. That was some coincidence. Eida is also staring at Bo, a guarded expression on her face. She quickly dismisses her pilot friends and they sneak back out of the docks, taking one of the roads further into the city.

“What are we going to do until then?” Naj asks. Eida thinks for a moment, then begins walking off with a sense of purpose.

“We’re still wearing the stuff we broke out of prison in. It’s blood-stained and the Inquisitors probably have a description of it. I think we should head to the street market and see what we can turn up in the way of clothing.” A pinched look crosses her face. “And weapons. Even a good knife would be enough for me.” They weave through narrow alleys and roads before walking out into a much wider avenue crowded with people and market stalls. The air smells of speeder exhaust and rich herbs and trash and something frying.

Colors are everywhere; a red canopy stretches over a cloth-seller’s table, yellow birds sing in cages hung precariously from a pole. Dark blue liquid is parceled out in thick glass bottles. Twin saphires wink in the ears of a street performer who balances on top of two others. A woman in a long, emerald-colored cloak haggles with a fruit merchant over the price of his purple jogan fruits. Nearby a vendor sells orange cakes that contain some sort of white cream. It’s never this crowded back on Stewjon, but as of late Naj has been getting good at picking his way through crowds. They make good timing over to a heavily scarred Gran who gives them a shirt, a strange poncho-like garment, and a pair of pants for Naj and a jacket, tunic, and leggings for Eida. The pair change in a back-alley, the poncho acting as a curtain, each taking turns holding it up.

Then they buy food- real food! Far better than the dehydrated fruit and protein bars they’ve been subsisting on. They wander around for a bit with their treasure until they stumble upon an empty courtyard. In the center is an ancient, broken fountain. No water fills its ceramic basin or flows from the tiered stops. Small weeds grown through the cracks in the pale stone that covers the ground. They settle on a half-broken bench and begin to eat.

It’s almost weird how normal it is. Ever since he’s met Eida they’ve either been on some sort of mission or under attack. Sitting in a courtyard with her, eating lunch like he’s at home with one of his friends. It’s an odd experience. He watches her, her dark blue eyes fixed on the fountain in the courtyard. _Would we have been friends back on Stewjon?_ Probably not. Naj was never the kind to hang out with the rough crowd. His mother would’ve had a heart attack. _Mother_. His parents, who have lost their grandson, part of their daughter, and now their son. _They lied to me. I still don’t understand why._ He casts about for something to distract him from that train of thought.

“You said Eeth taught you how to use the Force.” She nods, chewing a bite of ‘uj cake’, which she insists is the best food the Mandalorians ever invented. Apparently Bo’s style of armor is because he _is_ Mandalorian, and after spending five years with the guy some of the more commonplace aspects of the culture started to run off. “Do- do you think you could teach me?” Her eyes are on him now, locked upon his own with the intensity of the river of fire in the dreams.

“I don’t see why I couldn’t.” She shoots a glance around the courtyard. “Not here, though. You start tapping in to your Force powers and the Inquisitors will come running. They’ll be able to sense it. When we get out into space or onto a less populous planet we can start.” Her eyes return to his face. “You have uj on your cheek.” He puts up a hand to wipe it away and glances at the broken fountain.

“Last night, when the dreams came, there was a broken fountain. Do you remember?” She nods, staring at the fountain. Now she refuses to look him in the eyes, and it comes back to Naj what exactly they were doing in the dream next to the broken fountain. “Do you think the dreams might be prophetic?” 

“They... might be.” She glances back at his face again. “The uj is still there.” He swipes at it again ineffectually. She rolls her eyes. “Here, _di’kut_.” She wipes at the corner of his mouth with a thumb. The movement sends sparks racing through Naj, and a sudden plumes of warmth bloom in his chest. Eida blushes and pulls her hand away, but he catches it, midair. They look into eachother’s eyes and the feeling grows. They _had_ kissed in the dream, by an ancient fountain much like this one. What would it be like, to kiss her? As sweet as the uj cake? Salty like fried crispic? Sour like a jogan fruit? Would he soon find out? He’s not a lady killer by any stretch but Naj has kissed a few girls in his time. 

He places his free hand on her cheek, attempting to gauge her reaction. Her eyes are on him, blue and intense and sparkling with an inner light. Naj’s eyes are drawn to her lips, which are slightly chapped. The lower one has a faint scar running across it. His thumb brushes over it. Suddenly she pulls herself back.

“Naj, I-” he immediately let go, retreating towards the other side of the bench. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- I just got caught up in the moment.” He winces, knowing the words are coming out awkward and clunky. “It won’t- uh- happen again.” A violent brush is covering her cheeks. She sighs and folds her arms.

“You’re a good guy, Naj,” mentally, Naj prepares himself for the friend speech, a speech he’s received once before from a friend who he kissed at thirteen right after they heard the war had ended. Before they’d learned the Jedi had ended with it. “I like you. You may be a richie from the Mid-Rim, but you’ve got spirit. But I can’t worry about things like this,” and here she makes a vague gesture, “right now. We’re on the run for our lives, my mother died three days ago, we just got tortured by the man who killed my mentor, and that’s not even mentioning the weird stuff going on, the ‘Jedi shit’ as Bo would put it. Once we’ve got some breathing room we can talk again, but for now I can’t do this.” Well, that wasn’t quite as bad as Tuma’s speech. _There’s a chance._ Naj nods.

“I understand.” They finish eating in silence and walk away quickly from the fountain when they’re done, heading back to the crowded market almost a little too frantically.

* * *

Other than that, things are pretty normal the rest of the day. By the time dusk rolls around the strangeness has faded and now he simply feels like he’s walking around with a good friend. A good friend who has recently acquired a very sharp dagger. As they approach the dock Naj pulls on the strange poncho and Eida pops the collar on her jacket. If he saw them from afar he might have guessed that they were simply a pair of spacers coming back from a night at the cantina. They navigate to bay 357 and Eida raps on the side of the ship so Bo knows they’re coming. After he calls a greeting she starts up the ramp, motioning Naj forwards.

His ship is a medium sized vessel, with a cockpit large enough to fit four and two small storage areas off the entryway. One of them is full of bunks and supplies, the other is nearly empty and has no door. Naj thinks he can see the controls for a ray-shield generator slightly over on the wall. _He_ is _a bounty hunter._ They emerge into the cockpit. Bo is sitting in the pilot’s seat wearing most of his armor, his helmet and gloves sit on a small shelf next to him, polishing a blaster. After they enter he hits a button on the console and the ship’s door closes behind them.

“I see you picked up some new threads while you were out and about.” Bo says, wiping away at the spotless surface of his weapon, “Da’s idea, I bet.” Eida rolls her eyes.

“You know me too well.”

“Do I?” Naj gets a weird feeling all of a sudden. He turns to look at Eida and she’s on high alert as well, hand creeping towards the knife stepped to her thigh. “Oh, did you get a new blaster? Can I see?” She pulls the dagger from its sheath.

“What’s going on, Bo?” she asks in a low, hard, tone. Bo’s face has an odd expression creeping over it, halfway between amusement and rage. He laughs, and it’s not a fun laugh, but a cold and hard one.

“You said I know you too well. But do I?” He climbs to his feet and aims the blaster at Naj. “Give me that. Wouldn’t want your little friend here to get hurt.” Eida closes her eyes and holds out the knife. He takes it and tosses it over his shoulder. “I’m warning you, try to use your Jedi shit on me and he dies.” Her eyes open and they’re full of betrayal.

“What the hell is going on, Bo?” He laughs again and takes a step towards her, blaster still aimed at Naj. Blood pounds through his ears and the world shrinks to the small cockpit and its inhabitants.

“I thought I knew you well, too. But apparently I don’t. Because I thought we were on the same page.” He puts his hand into a pouch on his belt and pulls out something blue and shimmering. “If I know you so well, then what the hell is this?” Eida’s expression is one of shock.

“How did you get that?” She takes a step backwards. “I left it with Unuum on Ne-Tarr, how the hell did you get it? He wouldn’t have given it to you!” A terrible smile is replacing the rage/amusement expression.

“He didn’t. I took it. I take lots of things. Before I took it he was kind enough to explain what it was.” He takes another threatening step forward. “Why would Eida Walker be hiding a list of the living Jedi? The Eida I remember would be turning in every Jedi she could find. You know what happend me. You know how things were on my home world, and I know how things were on yours! ‘Those selfish assholes deserve everything they get.’ You said that once! I remember! So what happened?” Eida’s back hits the wall and Bo is still coming, creeping like a spider creeps across its web.

“What happened is that I grew up, Bo! I don’t think you did. I moved on. I met a few Jedi. It’s not their fault they couldn’t help Mandalore the way they wanted, and it’s not their fault they couldn’t free every little slave girl living on a hunk of ice. It’s not fair, and you don’t have to like it, and I don’t, but it’s life. Is it better now that they’re all dead? The Jedi couldn’t change things any more than the Empire has. I forgave them. There are trillions of people in this galaxy, Bo. ‘You can’t save them all.’ That’s something you said. So what happened to you?” The bounty hunter suddenly changes course, heading for Naj who still has a blaster pointed in his face.

“You forgave the Jedi, huh? Forgave them so much you’re hanging around with one? I saw you in the courtyard! You were hanging off of him like a little Twi’lek _slut_.” He spits out the last word. Then he punches Naj in the face. Hard.

There’s no time to put up his arms or duck so he takes the full impact across his right cheek. Bo’s fist pushes across and over his nose. He stumbles backward, reeling from the blow. Naj has been in fistfights before, but those were lame things compared to what’s happening now. Those were asshole boys who yelled ‘nice ass’ at his date, or friends of his when they’d all gotten too drunk off cheap beer. Bo is a professional who punches criminals in the face on a regular basis. And he caught Naj almost kissing the girl he’s loved since he was twelve. 

“Leave him out of it, Bo!” Eida shouts, taking a step forward, “He’s not a Jedi! And you don’t know what you saw!” Bo punches Naj again, this time in the gut. He doubles up, pain radiating through his abdomen. A drop of blood hits the floor and Naj realizes that his nose is bleeding.

“Oh, I saw plenty.” He sweeps a foot under Naj’s legs and they buckle, bringing him to the floor with an echoing clang. “I saw _my_ Eida about to lay a kiss on this Jedi asshole. He’s lucky I haven’t pulled the trigger.” Kicks begin raining down on Naj. _I have to fight back._ He pushes himself to his feet and takes a swing at the hand holding the blaster. A shot fires out and punches a hole in the ship’s windscreen. Before the bounty hunter can recover, Naj takes a flying leap and tackles Bo to the ground.

Almost immediately he realizes this was a bad idea. Bo knows exactly how to twist Naj into an arm-bending pretzel, and it’s all he can do to keep the hands off his throat. Eventually Naj winds up on his stomach, one knee between his shoulder blades, his arms trapped behind him. The hands snake forward and tighten around his neck, and a loud and angry pulse of dread races through Naj, a certainty that he’s about to die. Then, quite suddenly, the hands are gone. Bo lets out a loud, winded gasp. Grateful for the distraction he wiggles out of the bounty hunter’s grip and stumbles a few feet away, panting. 

The first thing that hits him is the blood. There’s a torrent of it pouring out of Bo’s shoulder. Standing behind him, blade dripping red, is Eida. Her face is set in a fierce mask but he can see the tears rising in her eyes. Bo’s finger’s flutter around the wound, his mouth and eyes wide. He fixes a betrayed expression on Eida.

“I’m not _your_ anything. I never have been.” She drops the dagger and grabs the crystal from where it has fallen on the floor. “Come on, Naj. Let’s get out of here.” The next minute or so is a blur, and by the time they’re off the ship Naj isn’t sure how he made it away. They run frantically through the docks, Eida in a bloodstained jacket and tunic and Naj looking like he’s decided to fight a nesting rancor. 

A ship stands in front of them, the bay open. The pilot is arguing with one of the dock workers, the loaders idling around to see if they’ll have to remove the cargo. No one is paying attention. Eida takes his hand, and he realizes it’s trembling. They make it onboard at a run and after some frantic searching manage to find a panel that pulls up from the floor. After everything has been tucked back into place, both of them fold in and collapse to the floor.

The space they hide in is small, about three feet tall and five long. It’s going to be a cramped ride but it’s better than nothing. Bo’s blood still stains Eida’s hands and clothes, and without warning she begins to tear them off. Naj silently hands her his strange, poncho-like garment and she pulls it on over her bra. She kicks the offending articles into a corner and then curls into a small ball to weep silently. The ship purrs underneath them. A hand stretches out in front of him and Naj takes the crystal from the bloodstained and shaking palm. He tucks it into his pocket and puts an arm around Eida. She doesn’t pull away, and as the craft takes off she buries her head in his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve gotten a rough outline hammered out and I finally know where I’m going with this. There might be more chapters if any start to get too long, but ~10 is where we’re gonna end up. Hope you enjoyed! New chapter by Monday, though if I keep writing at this rate it'll be Sunday.
> 
> And it’s just hitting me now how similar Bo is to Boba Fett. Like, same names and everything. It’s almost Ninja plagiarism. So... should I run with that or just ignore it?


	9. Out of the Frying Pan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj and Eida have escaped the clutches of the treacherous Bo. But where are they headed now?

It’s dark inside the secret hatch on the cargo ship they’ve hidden on. Light filters down through a fake vent in the corner of the space. Down by their feet, Eida’s clothes are sticky with drying blood, giving off a faint smell of the stuff. She’s finally calmed down and fallen asleep, head on Naj’s shoulder. The two are crammed next to each other, legs tucked up. They’ve been riding on the ship for about two hours now. There’s no telling when it will stop, or where. 

_That was not how I planned on this day turning out._ The wild events spiral through his head like frantic birds, diving and clawing at his mind. It’s finally beginning to heal from the trauma of the Inquisitors search. He shoves his free hand into his pocket and pulls out the crystal that they stole from Bo. Who stole it from Eida’s other friend ‘Unuum’. Who got it from Eida, who stole it from the Inquisitors. It’s changed hands a lot. The small stone gives off a faint blue glow in the darkness of their hiding space. _So small yet causing so much trouble._ It’s hard to imagine even one name written on the surface, let alone a few hundred Jedi who survived the purge. 

Beside him Eida gives a loud sigh and sits up, wrapping her arms around her legs. Naj holds back, wary of giving comfort when none is wanted. It’s nearly silent, the only sounds footsteps traveling around abovedeck, the steady rumble of the ship’s engines, and the quiet breathing of the woman beside him. She stares at the crystal, head on her knees.

“I didn’t think it would turn out that way.” The words are a harsh and nearly silent whisper. “I thought I knew Bo better. Guess I was wrong. Or maybe I wasn’t.” There are tears gathering at the edge of her voice but none fall. It spurs him into putting his free hand on her shoulder, a hand she lets stay there. 

“Are you okay?” he whispers. 

“I think I will be.” Her eyes close for a long moment before re-opening. “I’m sorry for what happened. You had nothing to do with any of it. That fight’s been going on for nearly four years now, and I think I might’ve ended it.” Naj moves to put the crystal back in his pocket. Her eyes follow it and he hesitates. 

“Do you want to hold onto it?” She shakes her head and he slips it inside. “Alright.” They sit in silence for a few minutes. He catches himself watching her, trying to gauge whether or not she really is alright. “Do you want to talk about... well, anything?” She sighs.

“Want to? No. Need to? Yes.” She closes her eyes once more. “Bo wanted me to use the Force to hunt bounties. Just little stuff at first, like stopping someone from running away or opening a door. It didn’t bother me. Then he wanted me to figure out how to do the real stuff. Like choking and snapping necks. I wasn’t okay with that. I was going to leave, one night, on a massive city-planet. Take off from the cheap room and never look back. But then I- something happened. So I stayed.” She shakes her head, a smile with no joy on her face.

“We were working with this group of people to hunt down a big bounty. A droid and two brothers. My job was to flirt with our target and draw him out in the open. It didn’t bother me. I did it, and after we had captured the guy and loaded him onto our ship Bo beat the shit out of him and told me I would never do that again. And I got pissed. I didn’t _like_ flirting with the target but the way Bo said it, like it was an order... we got into a yelling fight and he almost hit me. Stopped his hand three inches from my face, said he was sorry. I didn’t sleep that night. Things limped along ‘till we landed on Eeth’s planet and we got into another fight. He did hit me that time, and he said he was sorry and that it wouldn’t happen again but I was done. Ran into the desert and got lost. Last time I saw Bo until three months ago.” A cool silence fills the air, and Eida tucks her legs underneath her.

“Crazy thing is I still love him. He hit me and I still care about him. So I’m an idiot, Naj. A fool. A di’kut. But I can’t not care. I can’t hate him.” Naj puts out his other hand and rests it on Eida’s shoulder. Their eyes connect once more and Naj tries to convey everything he needs to say in one look, because he doesn’t know if he can say it out loud. But that only works in holomovies, so he has to say something.

“You’re not an idiot. Far from it. You’re smarter than me, for one thing. You figured out how to do mind tricks mostly on your own. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be hanging around in that detention center.” He sighs. “Bo’s a waste of oxygen. We both know that. But you can’t make yourself hate him, and if you want to put that part of your life behind you I’ll never mention him again.” She grabs the hands on her shoulders and holds onto them tightly.

“Thank you.” The pair sit there quietly, perhaps waiting for something. Nothing happens, though, and so when Eida drops his hands and sits up as straight as she can, Naj also comes to attention. “So. You asked me to teach you how to use the Force.” 

“Right now?” _In the crawlspace of a smuggler’s freighter after you just told me about your horribly traumatic past (again!)?_

“If you’re up for it.” Once again Eida is employing her favorite method of grieving: hide your problems behind controllable problems.

“Alright.” Who am I to judge her? He pulls himself into a more comfortable sitting position and faces Eida.

“Right. Where should we start?” She pauses for a moment, thinking. “Maybe... okay. I know you can move things with the Force but that’s not all it is. The Force is a... a river. The water flows through everyone and everything. Some people can reach out and touch the water, and eventually shape the river the way they want it to be.” She lets out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know how Eeth did this. Explaining how the Force works is like explaining how to fly a ship. You’ll get pretty far with just instructions but eventually it comes down to you in the pilot’s seat.”

“You and all the vague analogies?” She punches him in the shoulder.

“Do you want to learn how to do this or not?” He rubs his shoulder.

“Sorry, Master Jedi. Lead the way!” Eida rolls her eyes and then puts a serious expression on her face.

“Right. Remember when we were in the prison cell? And you reached out and touched the shackles. You had to have touched something inside yourself. I want you to reach out and feel... everything. Everything you can. Going back to the original analogy, touch the river.” Naj closes his eyes and searches around inside himself for the power he remembers from the jail cell. It’s hard to find; he wasn’t exactly in peak mental condition the last time he did this and it’s harder to find the way there. But eventually he gives up and lets his instincts guide him.

There. He feels a trickle of cold power run through him, but instead of yanking on it or focusing on any one sensation, he tries to feel it, with limited success. The water trickles past him and he can feel it in his fingers but no where else. _If the Force is a river then to feel it I should jump in it._ It’s worth a shot, and he pushes towards the source, submerging himself in the cold power.

At once the sensations threaten to overwhelm him. He can feel the outline of the ship, he can feel the beacons that are the crew and the dimmer flickers that are small pests hiding in the wiring. He can feel Eida beside him, bright and alert and shining with the light. The void of space surrounds it all, cold and calculating. Naj feels free, like he’s finally stretched out legs that have long remained cramped inside his mind. Suddenly he brushes against the brightest light yet. It’s the crystal, and now Naj understands why the Jedi would use these in their weapons because the amount of energy flowing through it is immense. _Doing this here on a mostly sterile freighter is one thing. Doing this on a planet? The variety of life would be amazing._

Suddenly something brushes against his arm and Naj is brought back to the present. Eida has a finger pressed to her lip, panic racing through her that he can now feel. Footsteps echo overhead.

“It’s too bad. Savareen way too remote for a deal like that.” A flicker of recognition runs through his companion. She taps him on the shoulder and shakes her head. He raises an eyebrow and she makes a strange motion with her hands he doesn’t understand. Finally, rolling her eyes, she presses her lips up to his ear, sending a shiver through him.

“ _Stop feeling everything. You need to put up mental barriers; it’s rude to grab people’s emotions without warning._ ” She describes the process in a furtive whisper and declares his results ‘passable’. The footsteps clang away again and they’re left in the relative safety of the crawl space alone.

“Well that’s good to know.” He shoots her a concerned look.

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you hear them? We’re headed to Savareen. One of the shittier shitholes in the galaxy, but it’ll be easy to find a transport off no questions asked. It’s part of the Corellian Run.” They fall silent.

“So... are we going to keep teaching me how to use the Force?” She shakes her head.

“That’s all for today. I don’t want to give you exhaustion.” She gives him a searching look. “Doesn’t your head hurt?” He admits that it does, in fact, hurt, though not quite as badly as it had after the masked man’s interrogation and the following escape. “We should probably rest. If we’re going all the way to Savareen then we’ll be here for a while.” The two wedge themselves in the most comfortable sleeping positions they can find and slowly drift off into the darkness.

* * *

_A woman with dark hair and dark eyes stands in front of him. She wears a grey dress, belted at the waist. Her eyes are tired, yet kind._

_Won’t you have a seat? She asks. Naj starts; suddenly they’re standing in a room with a rounded, sloping ceiling. The walls are adobe and the floor compacted dirt. The room around them is full of objects, yet organized and clean. Hesitantly, he joins her at a smooth, stone table. Six chairs surround it. She sits across from him on the long side._

_I don’t mean to be rude, Naj says, but who are you? She smiles._

_I’m the woman you are searching for. But that does not matter. The smile leaves her face and she grows serious. You are facing a difficult choice, young man. For the sake of my grand-niece I hope you make the right one._

_What choice? What decision? The older woman shakes her head._

_I cannot tell you. You will know when the time comes. But I must warn you; do not let history repeat itself. In an instant the old woman is gone and_

He wakes to find his shoulder being shaken by Eida.

“The ship’s landed, it’s time to get out of here!” Naj can’t agree more.

After sneaking off the ship, Naj and Eida find themselves walking down the street of a small city. Immediately Eida drags them to the small hall of records that the city keeps. Inside the building is small and green. The paint is chipping on the walls and the floor is scuffed linoleum. Three dinged and ancient holopads rest on one shelf, while screen readers cover another wall. Eida snatches one of the datapads and gets to work. Naj heads over to the screen reader and powers it on. 

The screen reader brings up the news automatically, so the first thing Naj sees is a grainy picture of his own face, Eida’s right beside it. It’s a bit of a shock. He taps on the first article and reads through it. They’re wanted for treason, theft, and harboring suspected Jedi. Luckily, the description of their clothing is out of date and their last known location is still marked down as Alsakan. Jumping on that random freighter was probably their best plan. 

“Come and see this!” Eida calls. He powers off the screen reader and makes his way over to where she sits, perched on the edge of a torn chair. She taps a few figures on the screen of the datapad. “So this is when my great-aunt would’ve been sold, according to Ko-Pilla. This is where Gardulla the Hutt was living at the time of the sale.” Naj makes a face.

“Tatooine? Never heard of it.” A little smile comes over Eida’s face. “What?”

“I’d never heard of Tatooine, either, so I did a little research. For one thing it’s in the same system as Adriana. We were right there, Naj, and we didn’t even know it! For another, the entire planet is a desert.” A slow realization dawns over Naj.

“The dreams... Obi-Wan is always in a desert!” She smiles.

“I told you we’d find them both in the same place.” The smile fades. “It’s eerie, isn’t it? Them both being in the same place? And my mom... she lived her whole life right next to her aunt and didn’t even know it.” 

“Maybe she did and that’s why she wanted you to find her.” Eida shrugs, wiping the history of the datapad. 

“Let’s get going. I’m sure _someone’s_ heading to Tatooine, we just have to find someone who won’t turn us in. Or, _I_ will. You’re not exactly the master of subtlety.” Naj grins, remembering the cantina in Ne-Tarr several days and lifetimes ago. _How did I ever end up here?_ He realizes there is no answer.

They walk through the wide main road of the city, nearly empty of people in the hot mid-day sun. Things will pick up later, perhaps, when the heat becomes more forgiving and the buildings cast wide shadows for people to hide in. They enter the shipyard and stand a few yards from the gate, Eida scanning the area quietly. Ships dot the dusty soil, durasteel crates are stacked ten-high. The bay is walled in on three sides, the back opening onto a polluted river that flows sluggishly through the shipyard. The water is nearly black. A prickle of unease runs through Naj.

“Eida, I-” She cuts him off with a careful gesture. Coming out from behind the ships are three figures, all in black. The one to the left is the red-skinned woman, a feral snarl covering her face. To the right is a man with skin that reminds Naj of the uj’cake; brown and oily. His eyes are pure black and he has no hair. In the center is the masked man. Involuntarily Naj touches the pocket containing the crystal. They stand several yards away, quiet and menacing. The red woman throws something onto the ground. It rolls to their feet. Bo’s helmet.

“Your little friend was kind enough to give us the tracking beacon for the tag he placed on the crystal.” The snarl morphs into a smile. “Unfortunately for him he didn’t bring us the crystal in the first place.” Eida holds herself tense, hands fluttering to where she had once tucked weapons. Now there’s nothing. She closes her eyes, holds out a hand, and with a jerk of her wrist one of the durasteel crates stacked nearby goes flying. The uj’cake man laughs.

“Apparently the Jedi don’t teach their apprentices how to aim properly. Shame.” He takes a menacing step forward when a sudden creak of metal draws his attention. The crate was taken from the middle of the stack. Now the one perched on top of it begin to fall inwards and to the ground, sending tons of durasteel tumbling towards the Inquisitors.

The red woman leaps out of the way, flipping through the air like a crazed circus performer. A crate clips her on the leg but she manages to avoid any deadly blows. The masked man simply holds one gloved hand in the air, preventing any of the crates that would crush him from hitting their mark. The third Inquisitor is not so lucky. A large red crate makes contact with his shoulder, pinning most of his body underneath the deadly bulk. The crunching noise it makes is awful. One arm sticks out, still clutching a lightsaber. _A lightsaber._ Eida seems to have the same idea Naj does, because she holds out her hand once more and yanks it from the still hand of the uj’cake man. It crackles to life in her grip, the red blade glowing with deadly heat.

“Get out of here, Naj!” she growls, pulling the saber up into a loose guard. The stance is one she must’ve used for fist fighting because it doesn’t seem particularly well adapted for the blade. Her tale of training with Eeth flashes back, the fact that he never taught her how to fight particularly.

“You can’t take both of them on your own!” The crates have stopped falling and the masked man begins a slow advance, followed by a now-limping red woman. 

“We couldn’t take both of them if they were fighting one handed! You need to get the crystal to safety.” Naj is torn. _Is this the difficult decision the woman told me of?_ Time is running out. “Go!” He wishes he had trained for longer on the ship, because maybe the Force could’ve told him what to do, but for now all he has is Naj. 

“Fine!” He takes off at a run, ducking behind a large freighter and continuing towards the walls of the bay. Behind him he hears the sound of saber-on-saber as Eida takes on their pursers. No. Pursu _er_. 

Because the masked man is directly behind him. The man can’t really run but perhaps he doesn’t need to. There’s only one way out of the yard and it’s been partially blocked by thousands of tons of durasteel. Naj sees a munch shorter stack of crates and clambers on top of it. _Maybe from this point I can kick him off._

That’s not going to happen either because as Naj catches his breath he realizes two things. The river of sludge blocks his retreat from behind, a small ledge of two feet wide at most and a safety net his only consolation, to either side of the stack of a ship. And in front of him is a masked man with some sort of vendetta. And a lightsaber. Kicking a lightsaber is a pretty bad idea unless you happen to have beskar steel boots, which Naj does not.

The masked man stops a few feet in front of the crates. The sounds of combat still echo from across the yard, moving steadily closer to their position. Naj stares at his opponent for a moment. The man stares at him. He wonders for a moment why this man wears a mask. _Is he really ugly? Does he look scarier this way?_ Naj decides it must be a combination.

“There is power in you.” This takes him aback. The masked man standing in front of him wants to have a little chit-chat before slicing him up like a jogan. “I know you have the crystal, boy. Give it to me and I will train you to become more powerful than that Jedi girl ever could.” Shock ripples through Naj.

“Why would I train under you? You took my nephew! Tore apart my sister’s mind! I’m going to have to pass.” He cringes inwardly. Even when being threatened by a Sith Lord with an itchy lightsaber arm he has to say shit like ‘I’m going to have to pass’. The man steps towards him. 

“If you train under me I can teach you how to heal your sister’s mind. I can bring you to your nephew. Give me the crystal, boy. I will not ask again.” Naj reaches into his pocket and pulls out the crystal. He holds it in his palm, the little beacon of light. _Jorna back. And Nate._ The vision of Nate in the Inquisitor facility swims to the front of his mind. _I could get him away from that._

He’s jerked from his thoughts by a loud, sudden cry. Eida has been driven back to the high, sloping bank of the polluted river. As he watches, her foot slips backwards and she begins a slow, downward slide to the rushing black water. She digs the saber of the dead Inquisitor into the bank, the hot blade slicing through the dirt slowly. Something tells him it won’t stop her. He looks down at the crystal in his grip, at the girl sliding down the bank. And then her eyes find him and she mouths the word ‘please’. Naj closes his eyes, holds out the crystal,

And drops it into the rushing water. The masked man gives an outraged hiss and Naj slides down onto the two feet of clear dirt. He begins to run as quickly as he can, and he gets so close to her. Then the red woman swings her own weapon at him. He manages to dodge it without falling. He has one weapon left. Recalling the shackles in the facility and the Inquisitors at Tethys’s House, he yanks. Hard. And the red skinned woman tumbles down the bank beside Eida.

There’s no time to lose; the black man could be on him at any second and the red-skinned woman still has her lightsabers. He drops to his belly and holds out a hand, and for a moment he’s disoriented because the dreams never make it this far and she’s reaching, he’s reaching. Contact. They grab eachother’s wrists and Naj pulls her up the bank with a strength he never knew he possessed. There’s no time to stop and they race for the nearest ship.

Naj isn’t entirely sure how it happens but Eida manages to get the ship into the air and flying away from the dusty surface of Savareen. He collapses into the co-pilot’s seat. Eida is panting heavily with exertion. They stop for a moment and look at each other.

“That fucking sucked.” Naj says, putting his head in his hands. And Eida laughs, somehow, and Naj finds himself joining in as they fly away from the burning river. Something in him wishes he could fly away just as easily in the dreams. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the penultimate chapter! Hope you enjoyed. Also, we have nearly 100 hits! And 8 kudos! Thanks to everyone who’s read this far; this behemoth is over 20,000 words. Next chapter up by Friday, hopefully, though I have a busy week ahead so it might be late.


	10. The Fountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naj and Eida head for Tatooine. Will they finally find the answers they seek?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter and also the longest. Splitting it would’ve made either half too short, so I apologize for the length.

The ship drifts slowly through the calmness of space. After the battle in the shipyard, the silence is deafening. Eida stares out the window at the slowly distancing planet of Savareen. Suddenly, she jerks into motion, reaching for the shuttle’s controls. Then Naj notices the lightsaber she has clenched in her hand. She drops it like it’s something poisonous, and the cylinder tumbles to the floor with a metallic clank. 

“Are you going to keep it?” Naj asks, studying the instrument. The saber is about seven inches long, dark metal. About three-quarters of the way down is a button of sorts. The ends both come to sharp points, as if someone sliced the metal at an angle and never sanded it. The grip is sunken in a bit from the main cylinder, a black, cloth-like material giving extra grip. _You wouldn’t even need to ignite it to injure someone._

“I don’t know what that thing’s done,” she says, backing away from it slightly, “I- I don’t like it. Feel it. It’s... not good.” He reaches out a hand to touch it, then realizes what Eida means. Naj closes his eyes and reaches into the Force like he did on the freighter. He can feel the saber, and immediately understands what Eida is talking about. The crystal inside the weapon is giving off sick pulses of freezing cold, cold so cold it’s painful. _If the Force is cold water then the lightsaber is space._

“Why is it so cold?” He tears his eyes away from the weapon. Eida picks it up gingerly with two fingers and glances around for a place to put it. The ship is small, just a two-seater cockpit. There’s a wall panel, which opens to reveal a drawer of someone’s belongings. She drops it in there and then shuts the hatch. 

“That’s the dark side.” She laughs a little. “You always think it’s going to be hot, like hellfire, but it’s cold. Eeth told me that, once, and I didn’t believe him. When the Inquisitors first walked by I thought they were just really strong in the Force. Well, they are. Just not in a good way.” She drops down into the pilots seat and begins to take the controls. 

“The dark side? Of the Force?” Naj frowns. Eida nods, pushing a few buttons experimentally. 

“Yep. The Sith use it, and some others. Instead of just being a path for the Force, you turn your emotions into fuel and use it to become more powerful. That’s what Eeth said, anyway.” She claps her hands together, then winces. Naj sees a tiny tear in the poncho-like-garment over her left shoulder. She presses on, “Right. We should get out of here before the Inquisitors catch up. I’ll do a few jumps to shake them, then...” Eida gives him a look. “Tatooine?” Naj closes his eyes and nods. 

“Tatooine.”

About an hour later they finally head for their destination, Eida fixing the controls so she can rest for a bit. Naj gets up from the co-pilot’s seat and begins to rummage through the small compartments.

“What are you looking for?” He holds up a med-kit triumphantly.

“For your shoulder.” She rolls her eyes but turns so he can get a better look. He rolls up the corner of the poncho and gasps. A line of charred flesh runs from the tip of her shoulder to the bottom of her shoulder blade. He pops the top of the med-kit and scans its contents. It’s nearly gutted, the only things inside an ancient sonic scalpel, three bacta-patches, half a roll of conforma-wrap bandages, and some good old fashioned painkillers. Since the wound is already burnt shut the sonic scalpel is entirely useless, but he pulls out one of the patches and peels off the backing before placing it gently over the wound. Eida winces.

He hands her the bottle of painkillers and she takes two, swallowing the small tablets dry. She pulls the corner of the poncho back down and leans back in her seat.

“The crystal.” she says, as if just rembering. Naj pauses in his repacking of the med-kit. 

“I don’t know if they’ll get it back or not.” He shuts the med-kit, wincing. “I threw it into the river.” She raises an eyebrow.

“Why the hell didn’t you just leave it in your pocket?” she asks.

“I had it out already. The masked man was talking to me. It was-” Naj swallows hard. “He offered to teach me. How to fix my sister. And he offered me Nate back. All he asked for was the crystal. And I- I almost gave it to him, Eida.” She looks him in the eyes. “Then I saw you falling and I threw it into the river. I don’t know if he got it back or not.”

“Okay.” She sighs and sits up in the chair, checking on the instruments and making a few adjustments. “I don’t blame you. Hopefully they’ll leave us alone now that we don’t have their stupid crystal, but for some reason I doubt that.” Naj poops into the co-pilots seat. “We’ve got more to worry about right now. Most importantly, how we’re going to find the missing relatives.”

But as they discussed and researched and planned, Naj’s mind was still on the crystal, and where he might be at that moment had he not thrown it into the water, but into the outstretched hand of the masked man. 

* * *

They touch down in a natural depression a little ways out from the small city of Mos Espa. Records of sale for slaves aren’t exactly public, nor are Hutt’s addresses, so they had no way of knowing where to search for Eida’s great-aunt. Eida said she felt Mos Espa was the right place, and Naj tentatively agreed. Now they walk through narrow streets and alleyways full of bone-thin children and well-armed bounty hunters. The good thing about this place is that anyone who would turn them in already has a bounty of their own.

“Where to?” Eida shrugs. Suddenly, a conviction grips Naj that they have to turn _here_. It’s the agressive confidence that led him around his first night away from home. W _ell_ you _would’ve been useful several hundred times before now._ Still, Naj isnt going to look a gift lead in the source, so he leads Eida down a winding alley.

“Um, why are we going this way?” She asks. Naj shakes his head.

“I have a feeling that we _need_ to go this way.” She eyes him carefully.

“Alright. Lead the way.” And he does. The Force (he’s pretty sure, anyways) leads them on a circuitous route through city, past businesses and homes and scrapyards and hangars. Most of it is half underground, perhaps to give a respite from the heat. It’s early evening, so people are starting to spill out onto the streets. They arrive at a long row of residential houses. Their walls are weathered, their windows curtained with scraps of cloth. People stand in small clusters, drinking, talking, and gambling. Naj zeros in on a weathered old woman hanging up rugs, but before he can go over to her Eida grabs his arm.

“What are you doing?” He tries to shrug off her grip but her fingers are steel on his wrist.

“We need to talk to that woman. I think she knows something.” She gives the old woman a critical look.

“Naj, this is the slave quarter. That woman is a slave. If she’s seen talking to a pair of criminals like us she could get in a lot of trouble.” She sighs. “We can talk to her, but we should make it quick. If you see any of the people start to stand at attention let me know.” They approach cautiously. The hard eyes of the old woman fall on them and she crosses her arms, dropping the woven rags on the ground.

“Hello.” Naj says, “We’re looking for a woman who might’ve lived here some time ago.” Her expression morphs into a scowl.

“No Basic.” she says, her voice harsh and accented, “Huttese.” Panic washes through him. _I don’t speak Huttese!_ Then Eida steps forward. 

“Achuta,” she says, her accent flawless, “my pee kasa Eida Walker.” A little bit of the suspicion slides from the woman’s face.

“H’chu apenkee, Walker. Hi chuba da naga?” The two women converse for a while, Naj catching people’s names and little else. He does, as Eida suggested, keep an eye out for any foreboding figures. Luckily, none appear. Little by little the old woman looses her suspicious attitude.

“Me bosco de shag kasa ‘Walker’.” Eida is saying. The old woman thinks for a moment, then replies,

“Jee knoba shag kasa ‘Skywalker’. Cheeka kasa Shmi um cheekta bukee. Jee cha knoba bukta kasa.” Eida’s eyebrows raise, then she laughs a little. 

“Chuta?” The tone conveys a question. The old woman shakes her head, then bellows ‘SERTA!’. A small boy opens the door of the house they’re standing outside. There’s lots of rapid-fire Huttese and then the boy tugs on Eida’s poncho. Naj shoots her a questioning look.

“They know where my great-aunt lived. Her grandson will take there.” Naj looks at the scrawny young boy. His hair is dark and his skin tan. He looks at Naj with curiosity in his green eyes. There’s no choice but to follow. The boy leads them through the streets of Mos Espa to a small garage where he pulls a tarp off a speeder. They climb in, the boy behind the controls.

“Are you sure he’s old enough to drive this thing?” Naj whispers to Eida from the backseat. She laughs.

“He’s probably better at it than the both of us put together.” As the engine coughs its way into life and sputters out of the garage, Naj isn’t so sure of that statement. But after they clear the city and speed over the dunes of Tatooine, he’s becoming more and more convinced. 

“What did the woman say about your great-aunt?” he asks Eida. She smiles.

“Her name is Shmi Skywalker. My mom or grandmother must’ve dropped the ‘Sky’ at some point. She lived in the slave quarters with her son, but the woman didn’t remember his name. The boy left Tatooine when he was about ten, and a few years after that Shmi was sold to a moisture farmer who freed and married her. Serta is taking us there.” The two suns of Tatooine are beginning to dip over the edge of the horizon. They stop speaking to watch for a moment. Soon enough a blob appears on the horizon, a blob that quickly become a house. Eida thanks the boy for the ride and he zooms off back towards the town. They cast long shadows as they make their way towards the strange domes that mark the house of her great-aunt.

A plain wooden door is all that stands between Eida and the tattered remnants of her family, but after she raises her hand, she hesitates. 

“What are you waiting for?” he asks. She sighs.

“I’m scared.” He chuckles a little.

“Eida Walker, fighter of Inquisitors and stealer of crystals, is afraid of knocking on her relative’s door. This is less dangerous than when we went to meet Ko-Pilla!” She gives a nervous laugh, too.

“I guess I’m just worried what she’ll think of me. And we’re fugitives. What if we bring the Inquisitors here?” She steps back from the door, horror creeping into her voice. “We should go. This was a bad idea.” Naj steps up behind her and grabs her shoulders.

“Nobody knows we’re here but the old lady and her grandson. I highly doubt that they’re going to turn us in. As for what she’ll think of you, if it’s anything less than ‘amazing’ she’s not worth our time.” Eida turns, his hands falling from her shoulders and hugs him. Surprised, he freezes. Then he hugs her back. She releases him after a few moments and takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“Let’s do this.” Eida raises her hand and knocks on the solid wood of the door. Nothing happens for a few moments, and Naj realizes that her aunt might’ve moved out ages ago and that this is a farm so they’re probably really tired from... well, farming, and then the door swings open.

A small boy stands in the doorway, staring at the pair curiously. He wears the robes of a desert-dweller, tan shirt belted over darker pants. His hair is blonde, his eyes blue. An overwhelming sense of déjà vu hits Naj and he realizes that he’s seen this boy once before, in a vision. 

“Hello?” says the boy, hand still on the doorknob. Eida steps forward.

“My name is Eida. Eida... Skywalker. I’m looking for a woman named Shmi.” A look of surprise washes the boy’s features. He inspects her closely, as if waiting for a trick.

“I’m Luke Skywalker. Shmi was my grandma’s name. I guess-” he suddenly cuts himself off, horror crossing his expression. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, _especially_ not when I open the door.” He turns around and Naj catches a glimpse of some stairs leading down. An underground house! “UNCLE OWEN! THERE’S A LADY AT THE DOOR! AND A MAN! THE LADY SAYS SHE’S LOOKING FOR GRANDMA SHMI!” There’s a return shout but Naj can’t hear it well enough to make out the words. The boy, Luke, turns back around to look at Eida. “He said you can come in. You, too, I guess.” he adds, gesturing to Naj.

Luke leads them down the stairs and down smooth hallway, past a closed door. Then they reach an archway that leads out onto stairs. They descend into open air ‘courtyard’ of sorts, a tall tower situated in the center.

“What’s that?” Naj asks, pointing. The boy looks at him like he’s lost his mind.

“A vaporator.” he says slowly, “they pull moisture out of the air and collect it until there’s enough to use.” If Naj had known what a vaporator was he would be offended at the tone. They cross the courtyard and enter a small dining room. At the table is several now-empty plates of food, a woman with pinned-up brown hair, and a man with a guarded expression on his face. He studies them much like the old slave woman had. Luke sits back down at the table while Eida and Naj remain standing, hovering uncertainly in the doorway. Her poncho is covered in dust and ripped at the shoulder, his front half is streaked with dirt from the bank of the polluted river.

“Luke says you’re looking for Shmi Skywalker.” he says. It’s not quite a question, but Naj feels compelled to answer it. Luckily, Eida does it for him.

“My mother died a few days ago. Before she did she told me to find her aunt, my great-aunt. I managed to track her down to Tatooine.” she looks down at the floor. “I’m sorry for barging in on you like this. I just...” she trails off and falls silent. The man’s expression changes slightly. 

“Luke, take your plate to the kitchen then take a hike.” The boy starts to protest, but a look from his uncle seems to set him off. He sighs, carries his plate through a door in the opposite wall and then walks from the room dramatically. “That boy...” he shakes his head. “Sit, please.” Naj sits beside Eida on the opposite side of the table from the and the brown-haired woman. She grabs his hand under the table and squeezes tightly. He squeezes back reassuringly.

“My name is Owen, and this is my wife Beru. Your great-aunt was my step-mother. I guess that makes us cousins of a sort.” A flicker of sadness passes over his face. “She’s been dead about nine years now. Tusken Raiders killed her.” Eida hangs her head.

“I’m sorry.” She pauses for a moment. “I guess we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Eida Skywalker and this is my friend Naj.” Owen and his wife share a look, and for some reason he gets the feeling that they don’t believe that Naj is _just_ her friend. 

“So how did you end up here? It must’ve been some work tracking us down.” Now it’s Eida and Naj’s turn to share a look. _We can’t very well start blabbering on about kyber crystals and Force dreams and Inquisitors._

“It was.” And so Eida begins to tell a heavily edited version of their story, starting with a bar fight on Ne-Tarr and ending with their coincidental stumbling into the slave quarters. Owen looks a bit suspicious now.

“What I don’t get is why you came all the way out here with Eida after only just meeting her.” He’s clearly talking about Naj, and he panics, and Eida squeezes his hand, though out of solidarity or ‘don’t screw this up’ he can’t tell. 

“What Eida didn’t mention is that I’m also looking for long lost family.” he says, thinking quickly, “I have an older brother that no one’s seen in years and I decided to find him. We got to talking in the cantina but we weren’t going to stick together until the fight convinced me that I probably shouldn’t travel alone. I think he’s also on Tatooine.” That seems to quell the worst of Owen’s suspicions, though he’s still not entirely mollified. 

“What’s his name?” Beru asks, “Maybe we know him.” _Well, let’s hope these people weren’t paying attention during the Clone Wars and never heard his name._

“Ben Kenobi.” Shock crosses their faces now, and Naj kicks himself mentally. _Clearly they know who I’m talking about._ “Oh, do you know him?” 

“He lives out beyond the dune sea.” Owen gestures in a vague direction. “He’s a hermit, of sorts, we call him old Ben. I didn’t know he had a family.” Now Naj feels like _Owen_ knows a little more than he’s letting on. _Does he know he’s a Jedi?_ Owen startles him by exclaiming, “Right. It’s getting dark, and it’s not safe to travel at night. You can bunk here and then go visit old Ben tomorrow.” 

“That’s not nessacary,” Eida protests, “we can walk back to town while it’s cool and find somewhere to stay there.” Beru shakes her head.

“The Raiders and worse travel the sands at night, not to mention you don’t know the way back. We insist.” Eida looks at Naj and Naj looks at Eida.

“Okay.” The man nods, turning to Eida.

“For now, I think you and I have some stories to share.”

* * *

_A bearded man with long, dark blonde hair stands in front of him. Naj looks the man up and down._

_Who are you? He asks. The man smiles._

_I am many things. My name, however, is not important. I am dead, but my spirit lives on in the Force._

_Were you a Jedi? He nods._

_Have a seat. Naj looks around and, much like in the dream with Eida’s great-aunt, they’re suddenly in a room. A room full of plants and burbling water. He spies the broken fountain he kissed Eida by last time. The Jedi gestures to a bench that wasn’t there last time and now Naj is getting uncomfortable. As if the Jedi can read Naj’s thoughts, he laughs. Hesitantly, he settles in on the cold slab of stone._

_Do you still seek your brother? asks the Jedi._

_Of course! I’m so close to finding him. Why would I give up now? The Jedi’s expression is as calm and fluid as the water nearby._

_Because his role in the balancing of the Force is vital. That gives Naj pause. If you pull him away to help free your nephew then the prophecy might be broken._

_Prophecy? The man turns away from Naj to look at the fountain._

_The Prophecy of the One Who Will Bring Balance. The one who shall defeat the Sith once and for all. You, too, walk a tenuous path, and a difficult one. But you do not need your brother to guide you. Now Naj frowns._

_But if I give up now I left home for nothing! The man blinks calmly at him._

_You left home for two reasons. To save your nephew and to heal your sister. You can accomplish them without Obi-Wan. All the power you need is already within you, and the tools you need to shape it are close at hand. He stands and gestures for Naj to follow him. He does, and their feet make soft dents in the sand around the fountain’s base as they approach. Look into the water._

_Naj does. At first he sees naught but algae and old stone, but as he watches a picture emerges. A reflection of himself, staring back at him. His hair is longer, his face harder. Older. A scar mars the skin of his forehead. Suddenly, he is the Naj in the fountain. He pulls his head back and turns to the Jedi, but he is not there. Instead there’s a soft rustling in the trees. Out comes Eida, her hair pinned to her head and bound in a braid. When she sees him she smiles and steps forward, placing a hand on his cheek. Suddenly, more rustling comes from the trees. It’s a boy, no older than ten. His hair is baby-fine, blonde and short but for one strand that hangs in a braid past his face._

_Are you two_ kissing _again? Because we’ve got a problem. Eida leaves his arms and Dream-Naj turns instinctively towards the direction the boy came from. His hand goes to his belt and he pulls off the weapon clipped there. Dream-Naj pulls his arms up into a defensive stance and flicks a switch. The green glow of a lightsaber bathes his face. He is ready. Naj_

knows what he has to do. He sits up, sweating, in the borrowed bed he’s sharing with Eida. She’s inches away, facing the wall. He smiles. The Jedi was right about one thing. He kicks off the sheets and heads out into the courtyard, staring up at the stars overhead. _One day, brother, one day. But that’s not today._ He thinks of Nate, stuck inside his Inquisitor prison. His sister laughing madly at the wall. _I know what I have to do. And I have everything I need right in front of me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it, boys, and two days ahead of schedule. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Will I write more about Naj and his adventures in the future? Maybe. But this part of his journey is over.
> 
> I apologize for the artistic license I used for the Huttese, but there’s not a lot of grammar there to work with so a few words had to be assumed or made up. 
> 
> Well this has been a trip. Any suggestions, criticisms or complements are, as always, welcome. Special thanks to Shadow_Bird for your encouragement when I was about to give up, and thank you to everyone who left kudos, comments, or read this phone book. It means a lot.


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